Setting the Stakes for Romance
by CringeWorthy
Summary: It's a testament to the craziness of the team that a conversation with Garcia somehow evolved into an argument that then resulted in a bet between JJ, Emily, Penelope and Derek. The setup is simple; Garcia has bet that her and Morgan are more compatible as a couple than JJ and Emily; the only thing is that none of them have dated or ever planned on dating. Romance and fun ensues.
1. Ready, Set, Bet!

**JJ and Emily centric multi-chapter fic that will probably be somewhere around four or five chapters, but I'm not entirely sure at the moment. This definitely wont be turned into a lengthy story though; it's just an idea I've had floating around in my head for a little while on a lighthearted and drama free story. **

**Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

The BAU floor was eerily quiet as JJ made her way out of her office and down the stairs towards the rest of the profilers. Except, as she approached the desks, she realized that the chairs were empty and the area was deserted.

"Guys?" She questioned into the empty space, wondering if she was the subject of a prank, knowing there was always _at least_ one profiler around working on case files. "Seriously? Where the heck is everyone?" She asked to the empty room, half expecting an answer but not at all surprised to be met with silence.

"Are you kidding me?" An extremely familiar voice echoed through the hallway, followed by a snort of incredulity that was somehow undignified and elegant all at the same time. A floating voice that she recognized immediately as Emily Prentiss's.

Following the sound of the now audible but muffled voices, the blonde meandered through the open area and towards Penelope Garcia's lair. The moment she stepped through the doorway, she caught sight of two of the missing profilers, guessing that Reid was probably off somewhere getting lunch or otherwise preoccupied.

"You cannot be serious," Emily huffed, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at Derek Morgan, his minor flinch the only indicator that Emily's patented glare was getting to him.

"I'm not saying I'm not open to the suggestion," Derek said smoothly, sidling up to the raven haired profiler and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, his flirtatious smile firmly in place. "I'm just saying me and Baby Girl here have more chemistry."

Rolling her eyes in an exaggerated fashion, Emily plucked his arm off her shoulders with disgust before taking a step away from him and pointing an accusing finger at Garcia. "You're only saying that because she hands out compliments on your physique like they're free samples."

Morgan's response was to simply shrug and flex, causing the tech analyst to fake swoon before using her hand to fan herself. "Em, a Chocolate God with _that_ type of body deserves praise," Garcia said pointedly, her free hand waving towards Derek's still poised and flexed body; a feral grin spreading across her face as she blatantly stared at his newly revealed abdominal muscles. "Case in point."

JJ, still lost as to what the fuss was about, stood in the doorway as confused as ever.

"You know what?" Emily asked in a huff, her hands flying to her hips as she studied the pair with a newfound scrutiny, "You're absolutely right. I don't think I could even _attempt_ to reign in the womanizer in him. Honestly, you're just crazy enough to manage it, Pen."

Having had enough of being left out of the loop, JJ finally decided to make her presence known. "Okay, what in the world are you guys talking about?" Her face was scrunched up in confusion as she glanced from person to person.

"Nothing," Derek said quickly, his gaze darting from woman to woman before taking a step closer to Penelope. "Just a friendly argument."

JJ quirked an eyebrow and stepped further into the room, closing the door behind her as she did so. "Didn't sound like nothing."

"You know, you and JJ would probably work better," the tech analyst said to Emily, appraising the two carefully before nodding, seemingly to herself. "Though you two are nowhere even _close_ to as compatible as us," her hand waved between herself and Morgan.

Finally catching on to what was being discussed, JJ could only stare at the three other people in the room, wondering how in the world they had even gotten started on such a ridiculous conversation.

"Seriously? This is what you guys are arguing over? Who makes the better couple?" The blonde couldn't keep the shock off her face even if she tried, finding the whole thing to be ludicrous.

Ignoring JJ's outburst, Emily stepped over to JJ's side and motioned between the two of them with her index finger, "_We_ are definitely better suited than you and Morgan. What you two have is superficial at best, we have personal knowledge and friendship making us more compatible and better suited to last long term." The smug look on her face did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room, though JJ's shock at the argument by the profiler was much more noticeable than anyone else's.

"Uh, are you _really_ going to argue this Emily? Doesn't this seem a little—" the blonde's hand waffled in the air as she tried to come up with an apt word, "childish?"

Emily, befuddled as to why JJ wasn't as invested in winning this argument, stared in shock and mild disappointment. "There is nothing childish about losing an argument Jennifer," she said with the utmost seriousness.

"Prentiss, c'mon, let's not kid ourselves. You and JJ would suck as a couple, just look at you two right now. I'm almost disappointed in Baby Girl for suggesting it in the first place," Derek said breezily, giving an admonishing look to the tech analyst before returning his attention to the media liaison and his fellow profiler. "Look, there's plenty of me to go around, so you and Baby Girl can just share me." His smug and cocky grin was enough to silence Emily, her brain unable to get past the showcasing of his enormous and overinflated ego.

Offended at the easy brush off, JJ crossed her arms and attempted to glare at the burly profiler. "There is no way that you are better than me, Derek."

It was Emily's turn to stare incredulously at the blonde, her mouth agape at the complete and instantaneous 180 in attitude on the argument. "Are you _serious_?" She asked JJ, her eyes practically popping out of her head. "_That's_ what gets you to change your opinion on things? What happened to this being childish?"

JJ simply shrugged at the woman next to her, the corner of her lip pulling up in a smirk, "I'm not just going to stand here and let Morgan claim he's better than me."

Penelope, who had been watching the whole conversation suddenly smiled wickedly, her thoughts running rampant with devilish and impish intent. "Okay," the tech analyst shouted, immediately silencing the ongoing debate between Morgan and JJ. "Let's put this to the test."

All three of the others in the room stared at her with questioning gazes, unsure of what that entailed and slightly afraid of what the crazy blonde would suggest.

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Emily chanced asking, already aware that whatever Penelope's suggestion was going to be, it wouldn't be anything good. They rarely ever were, she was far too calculating for that.

"Well, what better way to test out who the better couples are than to actually pair off?" Garcia smiled innocently, her eyes glinting with the familiar mischief that accompanied trouble.

"Pair off?" Morgan asked, not quite grasping what Garcia was suggesting.

Emily sighed, mentally congratulating herself on guessing the strangeness of the proposition; not yet aware of what the tech analyst would be getting out of the arrangement. There was no way Garcia would suggest something like this without somehow getting something out of it; though Emily supposed that getting to fondle and openly manhandle Morgan, not to mention date him, was reason enough for Penelope. Although, Penelope did most of that already, so again, it didn't really add up.

"She means that you and her date while Jen and I date and then we see who works better or lasts longer." The raven haired woman then turned towards the tech analyst, "Right?"

Penelope nodded enthusiastically, "Correct, my brilliant and beautiful profiler."

"You can't be serious," JJ finally added, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out how this suggestion made _any_ sort of sense.

"I have never been more serious in my life," Garcia said, the seriousness of the statement less effective when she was smiling like a loon. "You claim you're a better match for Emily than my Chocolate Adonis here, and we're sure that we make a better couple that you two, so it only makes sense to put it to the test."

Still not bending to the stretched logic Garcia was attempting to sell, JJ continued to stare at the other woman in disbelief. "That makes absolutely _no_ sense Pen. It sounds like you just want an excuse to date Derek."

Emily nodded in agreement, not seeing how this proposition would work let alone prove who the better couple was.

Garcia sighed, looking at the two women with a sympathetic gaze that seemed to suggest they were dense for not grasping the concept of what she was saying. "Sweetie, if I wanted to date Hotness here, I wouldn't need a bet to do it." She said plainly and with the utmost of confidence. "Secondly, what I'm suggesting is the only way to determine who the better couple is. If you don't want to do it because you're afraid Derek and I are more compatible, then just say so. We won't think any less of you for it." Penelope's tone was sickly sweet and falsely innocent as she goaded the prideful pair. Garcia was nothing if not a genius when it came to pushing the right buttons and manipulating things in her favor. This was a bet she was determined to set into action; whether she won or not was entirely up in the air, though she had a fairly good grasp on the odds.

"Afraid _we'll_ lose?" JJ shouted, her eyes bulging at the blatant air of superiority and confidence. "Please, Emily and I have this in the bag."

Emily, while completely put off and indignant about the smug claim by Penelope, could clearly see the workings of a trap. The particulars of said trap weren't clear yet, but she could smell a set up from a mile away and at the moment, it reeked.

From the way Morgan was staring at JJ and Penelope, Emily surmised that he was arriving at the exact same conclusion. Though neither spoke up or interrupted the two blondes for fear of the wrath they would incur, they could smell the trouble that was brewing. It was no secret that when riled up, Garcia and JJ were deadly and always made sure that whoever pissed them off made sure to never make that mistake again. Which was why Morgan and Emily weren't foolish enough to get in the middle of the two, so they stood by their, apparently, soon-to-be future better halves and kept their mouths shut. Though they did occasionally glance at one another with sympathetic expressions that showed their unspoken solidarity on the situation.

Roughly fifteen minutes of detail hashing between JJ and Garcia later, the terms to the bet had been set.

"So, the bet will last for two weeks." JJ started off, repeating the agreed upon term to verify that it was accurate.

Garcia nodded, "And we have to spend those two weeks _living_ with our partner."

JJ nodded but Emily and Morgan were both opening their mouths to question why that detail was necessary.

Before they could ask, Garcia and JJ both rolled their eyes, annoyed at the interruption and the failure to grasp the seemingly obviousness of the rule. "Two weeks is a short time and with the unpredictability of our jobs it just makes sense to maximize the amount of time we'll be together. Besides, it would be ridiculously easy to outlast the other couple if the time together was confined to just a few outings as a couple." Garcia said simply, her voice somewhat condescending as she explained the reasoning.

Both profilers nodded dumbly, not sure why the way Penelope explained it made them feel foolish for questioning its validity or reasoning.

"Second term, each couple must have _at least_ two dates over the duration of the bet. Meals in the shared living space _do not_ count as valid dates." JJ said simply, holding up her index and middle finger as she ticked off the contingencies for the second term.

Morgan and Prentiss didn't even bother questioning the rule, deciding to just listen and go with the flow. Both profilers had a feeling their role at the moment would be very similar to their roles in the bet-agreed relationships. Stand in silent support and maintain the 'yes dear' mentality.

"Third term, if one of us dates, kisses, or otherwise engages intimately or romantically with another person other than their partner for this bet, they automatically lose and the other couple is deemed the winner." Penelope said, looking pointedly at Derek before glancing—albeit less heatedly—at Emily.

"Hey" Morgan said indignantly, his response echoed by Emily.

"We resent that implication," Emily said for the two of them, her hardened gaze directed towards the tech analyst.

"Well…" Penelope trailed off, and both profilers could hear the non-verbalized 'I call 'em like I see 'em' that filled the silence trailing after the one word. The shoulder shrug JJ gave also confirmed Garcia's assessment of the two profilers.

"Whatever," Emily grumbled, her arms folded over her chest as she huffed in annoyance.

Morgan, for his part, glared at the two blondes before mirroring Emily's posture, though he couldn't deny that he _was_ a bit of a flirt but he didn't need Garcia or JJ calling him out on it.

"Term three, if by the end of the two weeks, both couples are still together and faithful, we'll use Spencer and Rossi as judges to determine who behaves more like a couple than the other." JJ said, looking at Garcia to see if the term was correct and what they had agreed upon.

Garcia nodded, holding her hand out for JJ to shake, which the media liaison immediately grabbed and shook. "Deal," the two said in unison, a look of pure determination on their faces as they attempted to stare one another down.

"Don't we get a say in this?" Emily finally asked, half of her expecting Garcia to suddenly shout that it was all a joke and half of her realizing that JJ had just entered her into a bet that she hadn't exactly agreed to.

"No," Penelope and JJ once again said in unison.

"C'mon Emily, we have a date to plan. Plus, we need to figure out who's going to move into whose place." Jennifer said with an air of authority, already starting to walk out the door and expecting Emily to simply follow behind her.

Watching the interaction with amusement, Morgan made a whipping motion as he gave the sound effect of a whip cracking before a thought suddenly occurred to him."Wait!" he shouted, immediately halting JJ's steps.

"What?" The media liaison said in annoyance, her competitive side wanting to have the finer details hashed out with Emily so she could win and rub it in Penelope and Derek's face.

"I get that we have no real choice in this," Morgan said, gesturing between himself and the still frozen Emily, "but what exactly are we winning by sticking this out? I mean, sure, this will be fun and all, but a bet isn't a bet without stakes, right?" He looked at Emily to confirm his point and smiled broadly when she nodded and turned her attention towards the two blondes.

"Huh," Garcia said slowly, "I thought bragging rights would be enough." Though the sly glint in her eyes suggested otherwise.

The tech analyst glanced at the media liaison, who simply shrugged, having thought that bragging rights was plenty enough incentive to win.

"Well, how about dinner at an expensive and exclusive place for the winner?" JJ suggested, trying to think of something that wasn't too high stakes but was enough to rub in the faces of the losers.

Garcia's face scrunched up in thought before she shrugged and sat down in her chair, "Sounds good to me. I wouldn't mind a free meal and a hot date," she said, throwing an exaggerated wink towards Morgan.

Derek waggled his eyebrows at Penelope, blowing a kiss in her direction, "Me either."

Emily pretended to stick her finger in her mouth, miming a gag as she watched the pair. "Whatever," she mumbled, rolling her eyes and looking towards JJ.

"Alright, dinner it is." The blonde said before smiling widely at the other couple. "The bet officially starts tomorrow, so get everything sorted out today."

Emily could only shake her head in disbelief as she followed reluctantly behind the bossy blonde, wondering how the stupid argument with Morgan had started in the first place and definitely wondering how in the world she ended up in a bet where she was supposed to not only date but _live_ with JJ for two weeks.

"Stop grumbling and get into the spirit of the bet," JJ said sternly, not even needing to look back at Emily's face to see the pensive and probably sourpuss look on her face.

"Yes, dear," Emily sullenly responded, a fake smile plastered on her face as she dutifully followed behind her girlfriend for the next two weeks.

* * *

**Feel free to leave suggestions on possible date ideas for JJ and Emily because I'm not really sold on the idea of a dinner date as one of their required dates. **

**Again, thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. :)**


	2. In It To Win It

**Thanks to everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed. I didn't expect this story to be so well received but I'm glad you're all enjoying it!**

* * *

Emily followed JJ into her office and immediately plopped down into a chair, waiting for the blonde to do the same before trying to talk sense into the other woman.

Just as JJ opened her mouth to discuss the particulars of their agreement, Emily held up a finger to halt her. "Jen, I get that you're super competitive and I completely understand it because I hate to lose _just_ as much as you do but I don't think you've really grasped the absurdity of what you've gotten us into." It was true, Emily _hated_ to lose, and in most cases would be ruthless in her endeavor to come out on top. It was that tenacity, that determination, that had landed her a spot on the BAU team—or so she had thought before she realized Strauss was just trying to put a spy in the ranks to prove the incompetency of Hotchner; but that was beside the point.

"Em, I think you're being a tad melodramatic. It's not like we signed a contract in blood and forfeited our lives or something. It's just a bet where the winners get a free dinner." JJ sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Emily's hesitancy and paranoia.

"No, JJ, I don't think it's that simple. Let's start with a simple question," Emily started, her game face on as she tried to prove the relevance of her disbelief at the scenario. "Have you _ever_ even shown a romantic interest in a woman before?"

That elicited only a small widening of the eyes before JJ shrugged casually, as though it was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. "No, but it's not like Pen said we have to spend the entire two weeks like horny teenagers; unable to keep our hands off one another and having sex all the time."

That was an image Emily didn't need dwelling in her mind so she purposefully pushed it from her thoughts and shook her head at the stubborn blonde. "True, but while we're not required to be intimate that doesn't mean we won't have to kiss or engage in other displays of affection."

JJ continued to stare at Emily as though she had grown another head, completely failing to see where the problem laid in that comment. A kiss was a kiss; sure it would be weird to kiss a friend who up until that point hadn't even pinged on her romantic radar, but it would be just like kissing any other person. Lips were lips, right?

"Jesus, Em, you're over thinking things _way_ too much. It's a kiss, so unless you've never kiss another human being before, I don't think we'll be running into any problems with that." Her eyes rolled that time, her lips pressing into a thin line as she crossed out that feeble argument.

"So you're okay with kissing another woman? With kissing _me_?" Emily clarified, wanting to make sure that she wasn't going to enter into this bet and completely ruin a friendship because JJ weirded herself out by kissing the profiler.

"No." JJ said with the utmost certainty, half tempted to plant one on Emily right then and there to show just how small of a deal it really was. "What do I look like, a thirteen year old? I think I'm capable of kissing a person—a friend—and not having a life crisis over what it means."

Ignoring the scoff from the blonde, Emily continued. "And you're—" her next words were cut off by JJ's extremely loud sigh and huff of annoyance.

"We've held hands before, Emily," JJ pointed out, "not to mention we've shared a bed when we were on a case _and_ when you crash at my house because you're too tired to drive home. We've hugged like a million times before, we've gone to the movies together, we've had dinner together, gone to the bar together, gone dancing together, had dinner at _my_ place, had dinner at _your_ place—" the blonde ticked off, rattling the facts off at an increasingly fast speed.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Emily grumbled, unable to refute any of those points seeing as how they actually spent a ridiculous amount of time together. Which was why, of course, Emily had argued they had more chemistry and things in common than Garcia and Morgan. But actually hearing all the things they did together was a curious thing for Emily, since it sounded like they were basically already a couple. Sure, friends who were as close as they were, tended to do those things but it had been a _really_ long time since either of them had dated and over the last few months the two women had grown incredibly closer, often spending days off from work in one another's company.

"Is that all?" JJ asked grumpily, "Because we're wasting valuable planning time and I'm not sure I could handle losing a bet like this to Derek Morgan."

"Whatever," Emily mumbled, again crossing her arms in a petulant huff. "But have you stopped to consider why Garcia suggested this bet in the first place?"

That comment was what cut through JJ's flurry of thoughts, stopping her in her tracks as she slowly turned her attention towards the profiler sat before her. "What do you mean?" The blonde asked after a moment, her brow furrowed in thought and confusion.

"Well," Emily started, "it just seems strange that she would propose such a wild and ridiculous way to prove who's more compatible or makes the better couple."

"I'm not seeing the problem," JJ finally said, after it was clear Emily wasn't going to add anything more. "Pen suggests crazy stuff all the time. If she didn't, then she wouldn't be Penelope."

Emily blew out a puff of air, "You're not really looking at things. Why would we need to date and live with one another for two weeks to prove we're a better match. How does that prove anything? You said it yourself, we spent most of our time together already, so what does us continuing to do what we already do on a daily basis, prove?" Emily looked at the blonde expectantly, waiting for her to see the web of deceit and careful planning that Garcia had clearly put into the bet. Emily wouldn't believe for a second that Penelope hadn't somehow orchestrated the whole thing; she just wasn't clear on _why_ it had all be set into motion.

"Maybe it was so she could see how her and Derek interact under the guise of a couple." JJ threw out there, only the slightest inklings of suspicion stirring within her.

"And what about the way she goaded you into agreeing to the bet in the first place. She's crazy, yes, but she's also a fantastic manipulator and she pushed the exact right buttons to get you to agree."

Choosing to ignore the paranoia Emily was spouting, JJ leaned forward and stared challengingly at the raven haired profiler, "Em, if you want out of this bet then just say so but don't start going crazy on me and weaving these ridiculous webs of conspiracies. If Penelope has a plan or wants something to happen, she's not shy about voicing it."

Emily recoiled, torn between throwing her hands in the air in exasperation and just shutting her mouth and going along with the bet she _knew_ was a cover for something.

Of course, withdrawing from the bet meant she would be a loser and Emily was way to competitive to do that, so she leaned back in her chair and waved JJ onward. If JJ wouldn't listen to reason, then Emily would hang back and rub it the blonde's face when she was ultimately proved right in the end.

"Fine, let's get this over with."

JJ nodded, happy to have Emily willingly going along with things instead of having to blackmail her, which the blonde was entirely open to doing if the profiler tried to withdraw from the bet.

"Okay, whose place should we stay at?" JJ asked, pulling out a paper and beginning to jot things down.

Shrugging with practiced indifference, Emily stared at the wall behind the blonde. "We might as well do it at your house, we spend more time there anyways."

"Are you sure? I've got no problem staying at your condo, plus it's closer to the office than my house is." JJ mentioned, not really caring where they spent the two weeks.

"No, besides your house is bigger than my condo and more homey." Emily then tilted her head in thought, "Plus you always complain my condo is too 'cold' and 'impersonal' for your liking. I'm afraid if we stay at mine you might end up redecorating the place." Emily's distaste in that scenario was evident in the way she stuck out her tongue and grimaced.

Offended at audacity of Emily's comment, the blonde was quick to rebuttal. "Okay, first of all, it _is_ impersonal seeing as how you've barely got anything personal in there. And I only said it was cold because of all the sleek metal fixtures and things you've got in there. Stop trying to twist my words," the blonde stated, looking sternly at the profiler before moving on.

"Now back to the topic at hand, how do you want to do the dates?"

Emily crossed her legs and gently tapped her index finger on her knee, trying to think of a way they could each have a say in how the dates went. "We can always split them up. The rule is at least two dates, right?"

JJ nodded but didn't say anything else as she looked at the profiler expectantly. "Well, we can split them up. You plan one date and I'll plan the other."

"Works for me," JJ said, scribbling the set up onto the piece of paper before her, a small smile on her face as she thought about the possible date ideas.

Deciding to have some fun, even a little at JJ's expense, especially since the blonde was being unnecessarily bossy, Emily smirked devilishly. "If we're going to commit to this bet we should probably try to actually _woo_ one another."

The media liaison stared at the profiler for a second, not entirely grasping what Emily was suggesting.

"I'm just saying that if both couples end up being judged by Rossi and Reid, then it would make sense to actually _try_ and be a couple instead of just going through the motions. The judges are both profilers so they'll be able to spot a fake display of intimacy from a mile away." Sensing she was slowly swaying the blonde, Emily smiled even wider, thinking of a million ways to pay JJ back for getting her into the silly bet in the first place. They would win the bet but Emily would make it hell for JJ in the process.

"So, we shouldn't just do this for the sake of the bet but actually consider this a real relationship. Dinner, talking about our days, processing, talking about our feelings, dates, couples yoga, double dates, the whole nine yards," Emily said lazily, watching with unbridled glee as JJ's smile slowly started to slide off her face. "Unless, of course, you don't want to win. Which is fine by me, but I can only imagine how badly Garcia and Morgan will gloat when they're declared the winners."

Frowning at the thought of losing, JJ nodded slowly, "You're right, but I'm not doing couples yoga."

"Sure, JJ," Emily said easily, though she was already thinking of a handful of terrible and clichéd couple related activities that she could force JJ into doing. Emily was going to have so much fun with this and JJ wouldn't even realize it until the whole thing was over.

At no point did Emily think this bet was a good idea but if she was going to do it then she was going to make sure JJ suffered a bit and that they actually won. And if she just so happened to torture the blonde in the process, well, that was just a bonus.

"So, you'll be staying at my place and we'll each have the responsibility of planning one date." JJ reiterated, a serious expression on her face as she did so; acting as though she were rattling off the terms of a contract or something equally law binding.

"Yup," Emily said happily, wondering if JJ knew just how much trouble she had gotten herself into by rushing head first into a bet with Penelope Garcia. "I'll bring my two weeks worth of stuff over tomorrow and we'll get this thing started."

JJ nodded and the two sat in silence for a minute before the blonde started to stare blankly at the still sitting profiler. "Shouldn't you be working on the stack of case files on your desk?"

Emily, completely thrown by the shift in the blonde, could only stare dumbly. "I thought dating the person in charge of those case files meant I didn't have to do them."

Ignoring the pout Emily was directing towards her, JJ shook her head in an obvious 'hell no' fashion and pointed towards the door with a flourish of her hand. "Nope. You'll get no special treatment from me and besides, I'm not your girlfriend until tomorrow."

Frowning, Emily stood and reluctantly made her way towards the office door, "What kind of person doesn't give special treatment to their temporary girlfriend? I thought you loved me, Jennifer."

Quirking an eyebrow at the sad attempt at guilt tripping, JJ shrugged nonchalantly, her head resting on her hand as she stared at Emily with disinterest, "The kind of temporary girlfriend who doesn't want her annoying girlfriend to get fired because she can't finish her work on time."

"You know what," Emily said defiantly, swinging the door open, "no kisses or sex from me until you apologize."

Stifling a laugh at the terrible attempt at a threat, JJ raised her hand to her forehead and tilted her head back in a dramatic fashion, "Not withholding sex and kisses! However shall I manage without them?"

Smirking at the playfulness the two had entered, Emily immediately switched to a cocky grin, "Trust me Jennifer, once you kiss these lips, you'll be singing another tune." And with that, Emily walked out the door, adding an extra sway to her hips as she did so.

* * *

It was clear from the beginning of the first day of the bet that JJ was taking the thing very seriously and it definitely gave Emily pause.

More than once, she found the blonde visiting her at her desk, suggesting possible date ideas and getting very touchy-feely. Not that Emily really minded because it wasn't too outside the norm for them, with the exception of the date suggestions, but it was a sight to behold to see JJ getting so invested in a bet.

It was also a little unnerving to see Morgan watching the interactions with such scrutiny and interest; again, it made Emily feel like things were being put into play that neither she nor JJ had any idea of.

"Shouldn't you be doting on _your_ girlfriend, Morgan?" Emily asked after the next bout of staring from the profiler, completely ignoring Reid's inquisitive gaze.

"Naw," Morgan said breezily, continuing his unabashed staring, "Baby Girl likes her space but don't you worry, I'll be giving her plenty of attention tonight, if ya catch my drift." His exaggerated wink and feral grin was enough to make Emily shudder.

"Too much information, Morgan. _Way_ too much information." The profiler said angrily, trying to shake the mental images that sprung up in her mind, not wanting to picture Garcia or Morgan intimately involved. Her head shook frantically as she tried to physically and forcefully dislodge the traumatizing images free.

"Oh please, Princess, like you and JJ aren't going to be getting it on now that you're gonna be having a two week long sleepover?" Derek asked incredulously, his roguish grin and eyebrow waggling only serving to further put Emily on edge.

"Hey, don't talk about my girlfriend like that," Emily said testily, never one for such crude comments, especially when they were about someone she was technically dating.

"Ooh, looks like someone is a bit protective," Morgan taunted before Emily leaned over and punched him in the arm.

"Shut up," the raven haired profiler mumbled, only smiling a fraction when she saw Morgan rub the spot she had just hit him.

"Seriously though, you must be a little excited about this whole thing, right?" Derek asked after a second, his leering expression gone and replaced by one of genuine interest.

Deciding not to dwell on the ulterior motives behind things, Emily smiled cockily, "Why wouldn't I be? I get to torture JJ with couples activities and when we win, I'll get gloating rights _and_ I'll get to rub your face in it. What's not to be excited about?"

"You aren't going to win, Emily. I bet you two chicken out at the first kiss." Morgan boomed confidently, smirking even more when he saw a glower descend upon Emily's face.

"If anyone is going to be uncomfortable kissing anyone, it would be you and Garcia. You both flirt like crazy but I doubt you two can handle the intimacy of a relationship—even one that only lasts two weeks." The raven haired woman said heatedly, not one to be bulldozed by Morgan's inflated ego and ridiculous claims.

"Let's put it to the test then," Morgan said confidently, his finger pointing towards the tech analyst who had just walked through the doorway, a manila folder clasped tightly in her hands as she approached them with her familiar bubbly smile.

Without another word, Derek rose from his seat, wrapped his hand around the nape of Penelope's neck before tilting her backwards and planting a firm and very invested kiss on her lips. When the two righted themselves and pulled apart, Garcia smiled even wider and handed over the file she was holding. "If that's how I'm going to be greeted every time I bring over a file, I'm definitely going to start doing it more often, Sweetness." The tech analyst said giddily.

"Your turn, Prentiss." Morgan said arrogantly, completely ignoring the inquiring but excited look Penelope was giving them.

Not one to be brushed off and certainly not one to resist rising to the occasion, Emily straightened her shoulders and called JJ down to the main floor.

"Just you watch, Morgan." Emily warned, staring devilishly at the man before striding over to the blonde who was descending the stairs.

"What's up, Em?" JJ just barely had time to ask before Emily was forcefully pulling the blonde towards her and gently cupping her jaw.

Jennifer had no time to process what was about to happen when Emily's soft and plump lips pressed against hers, the two meshing perfectly as the blonde felt herself being dipped backwards.

Unable to resist the kiss, JJ gasped slightly before burying her hands in the profilers hair and letting Emily take the lead.

Taking advantage of the gasp, Emily easily slid her tongue between JJ's parted lips and languidly explored the soft and velvety orifice. So lost in the kiss, Emily only barely registered the need for oxygen before pulling away and helping right the slightly dazed and flushed media liaison.

Emily turned her attention towards Morgan, a smug and overjoyed look on her face, "You were saying?" She asked the profiler, not waiting for his response as she turned her focus back towards the frozen and shocked blonde.

"I warned you Jennifer," Emily purred, completely taking advantage of the dumbstruck woman's silence, "once you kiss these lips, you'll forever be ruined for everyone else."

Placing a last kiss to JJ's lips, Emily smiled evilly before walking back over to her desk, the wave of arrogance and confidence unable to penetrate the stunned blonde's foggy brain.

As she watched her walk away, JJ slowly raised her index and middle finger to her lips, wondering why her skin felt on fire and numb all at the same time. It felt like a million tiny explosions had been set off beneath the thin layer of skin on her lips and she was unsure how to feel about that.

But as she stood there, rooted to the spot, she couldn't help but wonder just how much more interesting things were going to get because of this crazy bet. It was only day one and JJ was positive it could only get stranger and yet, exceedingly more exciting.

This was shaping up to be a fun bet indeed.

* * *

**Again, if you have any suggestions for the dates or just scenarios you'd like to see happen over the two week bet, feel free to PM them or leave them in a review. **


	3. Dirty Dance Tactics

**A/N: So, it only took me about five seconds into writing this chapter to realize this was definitely not going to be a simple four or five chapter story. Not too sure how long it will be but I'll give a heads up when there's only a few chapters left.**

* * *

Their first official day together was pretty much just like any other day; the exception to that normalcy being the completely random and all encompassing kiss Emily planted on JJ in the office. That fact that it was to prove to Morgan that they were totally fine kissing one another was not even a problem for JJ. Honestly, Emily could have said the kiss was for a hundred dollar bet with Morgan and JJ still wouldn't have cared. When a person is kissed like that, the reason tends to not matter.

However, after that kiss, things seemed to mellow out and Morgan sat at his desk with a dispirited expression on his face for the rest of the day while Emily smiled smugly at him every chance she got.

Moving all of Emily's two weeks worth of stuff into JJ's house was even less eventful.

All-in-all, the first day wasn't quite what JJ had been expecting; though that's not to say she was disappointed with how it turned out. Again, a kiss like that pretty much negated the remainder of the otherwise uneventful day. But whatever, it wasn't like the blonde had been distracted by it or anything; she definitely wasn't looking forward to another.

However lacking day one seemed to be, day two of the bet was looking much better, especially since it landed on a Saturday. There was also the teeny tiny fact that, per the agreed upon rules, Emily was sleeping in JJ's bed. And the fact that Emily appeared to be a cuddler; something JJ wouldn't have pegged the stoic profiler for, was something JJ couldn't quite wrap her head around.

It was even stranger since they had often shared rooms and on occasion, beds, during cases and not once had Emily ever pulled a move like this. It was like there was always an invisible partition between the two when they slept, but now that the bet had been set, JJ could only conclude that Emily was openly embracing it and lowering the barrier between what they had been and what they were now. Which she supposed was going from friends to girlfriends. Either way, it was surreal to imagine rough and tumble Emily Prentiss as a cuddler.

As it stood though, JJ awoke to the feeling of Emily's arm tightened around her abdomen and a nose buried into the nape of her neck; a steady flow of warm breath washing over her skin and bathing it in goose bumps.

It was odd to say the least but rather than over think things and question it all, JJ was deciding to just go with the flow. Obviously, that was something Emily had already resigned herself to, so the blonde figured she should probably do the same.

And if waking up to someone pressed into her back and spooning her was what she had to look forward to for the next thirteen days, she could definitely get used to it. It felt nice.

It felt right.

"JJ, where the heck did that come from?" The blonde questioned herself aloud, a little caught off guard by the complete honesty of the monologue in her mind.

"Jen, normally I'm okay with your insanity and weird need to talk to yourself but it's too early for it so shush and let me sleep," the profiler mumbled, half her words coming out as nothing but incoherent sounds as she refused to move her face from where it was burrowed into JJ's back.

"And normally I would pretend like I understood that but I haven't had my coffee and the way your arm is pressing on my bladder is making me a little irritable. So, repeat that? Preferably without mumbling into my shoulder." JJ responded in kind, using her irritability in the morning as a way to divert attention from being caught talking aloud to herself. Plus there was that annoying fact that every time Emily spoke her breath washed over JJ's skin and it was a hard feeling to ignore.

"I don't think I like grumpy, no-coffee yet, JJ." Emily grumbled, rolling away from the blonde and burrowing her face into her pillow.

"You would be the same way if you hadn't given up coffee." JJ said, glancing at the profiler with a look of sheer disbelief on her face, still unable to come to terms with the fact that someone had _willingly_ given up coffee. It was a drink that was pretty much the embodiment of heaven. How a person could choose not to sip that every chance they got was just beyond her. Clearly, Emily was crazier than JJ had originally thought.

"I didn't give it up," Emily finally voiced, angrily smacking her pillow as it was startlingly apparent the suddenly chatty blonde wouldn't be letting her go back to sleep. "I just weaned myself off it a bit. Besides, you kept taking my coffee in the morning because you claimed the place I got it from made it taste like a tiny piece of heaven."

Smiling dreamily at the mention of those perfect cups of java, JJ sighed and rolled out of bed. "God, that coffee was delicious. You should have never stopped drinking it."

"Yeah, I didn't actually stop drinking it, I just lied so you would stop taking mine. But I did sort of get into the habit of drinking tea, it's surprisingly good." Emily commented, pointedly ignoring the look of aghast on JJ's face, as though the profiler had committed a cardinal sin.

"You still _drink_ it?" JJ asked accusingly, her eyes wide with disbelief as she pointed her index finger at the profiler.

Resisting the urge to laugh, Emily tried to keep a straight face as she answered."Well, yeah, you drank it so you _know_ how good it is. Like I could give up coffee that tasted like _that_? Please, Jen, that's just crazy." Emily easily waved off JJ as she rose from her spot on the bed, knowing there was no chance she was going to fall back asleep.

"Why didn't you just pick me up a cup too? Wouldn't that have been easier than just lying about it?" JJ finally asked, her face scrunched up in confusion as she tried to wrap her brain around the ridiculous and convoluted lengths Emily had gone through to keep her coffee from JJ's clutches.

Trying not to focus on how adorable JJ looked with messy bed head and a perplexed expression on her face, Emily pursed her lips in thought. Her expression smoothed out as she realized the truth in the media liaison's words, "Actually, yeah it would have been. Huh." Shrugging it off, Emily shook her head, "Oh well, no changing it now."

Before JJ could comment any further on the coffee crimes her friend and temporary girlfriend had committed, Emily was grabbing her bag and walking into the bathroom.

* * *

After both women were showered and ready to start their day, they settled into the kitchen with a hot cup of coffee in their hands and tried to hash out what their plans were going to be.

While JJ seemed to be having a coffee orgasm, Emily was busy rummaging through the contents of the blonde's fridge.

"JJ, a person should never make those sounds outside of the bedroom," the profiler said offhandedly, never once turning back to glance at the blonde who continued to make overenthusiastic and clearly delighted sounds at her coffee.

Removing her lips from the obviously expensive coffee blend, JJ didn't even try to look sheepish at having been so engrossed in the little cup of joy within her hands. "Hey, a blend like this deserves to know just how delicious it truly is. Plus, if you don't pay homage then the coffee gods don't gift you with friends that can afford the expensive and ridiculously good blends." The goofy expression on the blonde's face morphed into one of seriousness. "Seriously Em, this is possibly the _best_ cup of coffee I've ever had."

Emily hadn't quite expected to hear JJ's moans and groans over a cup of coffee; yes, she expected some level of excitement over it but certainly not the show her blonde counterpart was giving her. It was a something that had her torn between laughing and wanting to blush in embarrassment.

"It's just coffee JJ," Emily brushed the comments and compliment off, never one for attention, even if it was coming from a friend. "And maybe you should focus more on stocking your fridge with food than your apparently ogasmic cup of coffee because this looks almost as bad as mine, and that's saying something."

Unwilling to let Emily harsh her mellow, JJ waved her hand as though she could physically dispel the words, "You're so melodramatic now that we're dating," the blonde complained, looking at the other woman briefly. "Besides, there's plenty of food in there, I just went shopping."

Returning to her search, Emily scoffed loudly, unable to fathom a decent breakfast with what resided in the fridge, "A five star chef couldn't even do anything with…" her words trailed off as she pulled out a carton of milk, "milk, old Chinese takeout, a rotten tomato and," she paused, hesitantly reaching in to pull something out. "I don't even _want_ to know what this is."

In her hand, Emily held what looked to be a jar of pickles, the label on the container completely worn off. Inside however, through the murky sea foam green liquid, bright yellow blobs were floating around. "I'm afraid to even open the lid for fear of not only the smell but what kind of bacteria I'd be releasing into the air."

"It's not that bad, Em. I'm pretty sure those are…" the blonde trailed off, studying the container as she wracked her brain for what it was, "a vegetable of some sort that may or may not have been pickled."

Frowning at the answer, Emily shook the container, watching as brown and orange flecks of _something_ started to float around in the murky liquid. "I don't think vegetables come in neon yellow and they definitely don't normally have brown and orange things floating off of them."

Foregoing any response from JJ, Emily dumped the container in the garbage, keeping as much distance from the object as possible.

"You know what, I never really liked breakfast anyways. Too much work," Emily finally said, closing the door to the refrigerator and taking a seat next to JJ.

"What do you want to do today? It's a Saturday so it should probably include drinks and something we can't usually do." The blonde suggested, wanting to get the most out of her day off, especially when they were so infrequent.

"We could double up with Garcia and Morgan." Emily suggested, taking a sip of her coffee as she tried to think of something worthwhile to do.

"Why in the world would you want to double up with them? You saw how they acted yesterday, I doubt going out after hours would be any better." JJ asked quickly, flabbergasted as to why Emily would want to put them through the torture of the 'Garcia Inquisition' that was sure to greet them should they spent time together.

Completely ignoring JJ's shock, Emily continued on as if they were merely talking about the weather, her tone casual and indifferent. "For starters, it'll give us an idea of how good they are as a couple but it could also be fun to mess with them."

"What did you have in mind?" The blonde asked, now slightly intrigued by the prospect of messing with the dynamic duo who seemed to always have the upper hand.

"Maybe drinks and dancing." Emily muttered, already thinking of ways to screw with Morgan and make him regret taking on the bet. "Where there's dancing, there's temptation. For Derek, dancing and flirting go hand in hand, and if he's drinking he's bound to slip up a bit. Who knows, he might blow the whole bet in just one night."

"And what about Pen?" JJ asked, still not seeing how this plan could mess with the true mastermind—Penelope Garcia.

"Even Garcia isn't immune to the jealousy bug. If she sees women throwing themselves at Morgan she's not going to just sit back and let it happen. Besides, even if that doesn't happen she still has to act like his girlfriend, so we'll just exploit that a bit." Honestly, Emily couldn't understand how JJ wasn't more excited about the idea of messing with Garcia and Morgan.

Reluctantly, JJ nodded in agreement. However, she was all too aware of how messy things could get when someone decided to prank or mess with the omnipotent tech analyst. When you're going up against a person who has access to copious amounts of knowledge on a person, you tend to pick and choose your battles carefully.

Apparently, that wasn't a lesson Emily had learned yet and JJ was content to sit back and watch the whole thing unfold. Plus, it _would_ be nice to try and get inside Garcia and Morgan's heads, especially when it seemed like the two had been planning this bet for awhile.

It hadn't really clicked when Emily so fervently tried to plead her case about her suspicions but now whenever she looked at Garcia, she could see that twinkle in her eye that meant she was up to no good. And it was impossible not to feel like Penelope definitely had something up her sleeve.

"Fine, drinking and dancing with Pen and Derek. What's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

Walking into the club, the four team members immediately sought out a table to sit at before JJ and Morgan took off towards the bar to get the drinks.

The way JJ practically jumped at the chance to leave the vicinity of Penelope was almost laughable, but as it stood Emily was mentally calling JJ a coward and hoping by some stroke of luck that the blonde would hear the thought. The profiler should have known her blonde counterpart would fear the wrath of Penelope Garcia.

"So, how are you two lovebirds holding up?" Penelope asked casually, almost too casually if Emily had anything to say about it.

Narrowing her eyes just a fraction, her face full of unmasked suspicion, Emily leaned back in her seat and stared challengingly at the master manipulator. "They're going great. How about you and Morgan?"

The profiler's brown eyes were scrutinizing as she tried to sense any sort of leverage or hesitation with Penelope—she got none.

"Better than great. You should have seen us last night; I've certainly done _a lot_ but I never imagined my Chocolate Adonis would be capable of some of the things we did." Penelope gushed, her eyes twinkling as she watched with glee as Emily blanched and grimaced at the over share.

Completely grossed out but unwilling to believe Garcia and Morgan did the deed, Emily decided to push and see just _how_ much of that was truth. A part of her firmly believed that beyond the flirtatious banter and obvious ogling, there was nothing more than close friendship. The profiler couldn't fathom someone as straightforward and blunt as Penelope just sitting back and waiting for Morgan to ask her out. She was too take charge for that.

Though there was a very good chance she was completely wrong, she chose not to dwell on it and took a chance on calling Penelope's bluff.

"Oh?" The profiler questioned, forcing her very visible disgust to dissolve into a look of genuine interest. "What kinds of things? Because I've heard some of his stories and I've always wondered if what he said was true."

Emily leaned forward, her elbows resting gently on the table as she peered at the tech analyst.

Penelope, not quite expecting the bold question, floundered for only a second before her game face was on. "Interesting." Garcia said gleefully, her eyes lighting up as she mirrored Emily's posture. "I never took you for the kind of person to enjoy hearing other people's sex adventures. Who knew our pretty profiler was so kinky?"

Easily, pushing away the embarrassment at being called kinky, smiled an easy grin and shrugged, not wanting to divert the direction she had set the conversation in.

It was only because Emily was obviously the harder of the pair to rile up that Penelope sighed and began to weave her elaborate tale of her and Derek's first night together.

"Have you ever heard of a move called the pinwheel?" Garcia asked, her eyes wide with delight as she eagerly asked her question.

Not at all interested in hearing about that particular move, Emily nodded readily, her trademark smirk firmly in place. Both women were aware of the game of chicken they were playing but it was obvious neither one was willing to back down, so that meant they had to let things play out.

Unfortunately for Garcia, Emily didn't have much at stake in the game, except maybe a few therapy sessions from the mental trauma the story would give her. Penelope on the other hand, had to tell a story that wasn't too unbelievable and one that wouldn't embarrass Morgan, because there was no way he was going to have his name soiled with a badly told sex story. Not even from Penelope.

"Surprisingly, I have." Emily replied, her eyebrow quirking as she hit the metaphorical ball into Garcia's court.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure you can imagine just how well my Chocolate God performed it. Don't let those muscles fool you, he's surprisingly flexible." Garcia threw in a salacious wink, her smile malicious as she watched the images flash in Emily's eyes.

Completely and utterly grossed out by the visual, Emily forced herself to hide the shudder that was quickly building within her. "Since when do you pass on the opportunity to go into detail about your sex life, Pen?" The profiler questioned tightly, her smile strained as she pushed onward.

"I guess being in a relationship has changed how I see things." The tech analyst quipped back, her eyes narrowed as she appraised her competition.

"I'm sure you've been in other relationships, and that's never stopped you from spilling the beans before." Emily helpfully pointed out, her fake smile never wavering as she continued to stare down the other woman. "Unless, of course, you were lying and haven't actually _done_ anything with Morgan yet."

"I didn't know you were so interested in my stories," Garcia said pointedly, trying to find a way to flip the conversation in her favor.

"I'm not," Emily replied honestly, "just the ones that affect our bet." The profiler slyly looked towards the bar and smiling even wider, her eyes crinkling in amusement as she prepared for the coup de grâce. "But I guess I was just overreacting, now that we're all out together, I don't see what I had to be so worried over."

Penelope, momentarily thrown by the new tactic, looked at Emily questioningly. "Sweetie, what in the world are you talking about?"

Hiking a thumb towards the bar, Emily kept her gaze on the tech analyst, "Morgan. He's at the bar flirting with the woman next to him. He's been at it since he walked up and saw her." Emily only had a moment to rejoice in her small victory before Penelope redirected her attention.

Leaning forward in her seat, the profiler smiled savagely, wanting Penelope to know this wasn't going to be an easy bet to win and that she was catching on to the games Garcia was playing at. "I know you're up to something Penelope and trust me, I will figure it out. And when I do, you better watch your back." It was a threat, but a friendly one. Or as friendly as a threat could be. Either way, Emily knew there were games being played and she wasn't just going to sit back and take it; she was going to fight back with everything she had.

Just as the words were delivered, JJ slid into her seat next to Emily and handed over her drink. "What'd I miss?" The media liaison asked, oblivious to the power dynamics as play or the strange way Emily and Penelope were staring at one another; not quite malicious but certainly not friendly either.

"Just the usual," Emily said casually, the perfect measure of fake exasperation, "Pen's forcing me to listen to stories about her interesting sex life."

"Well, I'm glad I missed that," JJ muttered before taking a sip of her beer, having had more than her fair share of nightmares because of Penelope's stories.

Seeing Morgan finally approaching the table, Emily took a quick swig of her drink before gently nudging JJ out of the booth. "Hey, let's dance."

"Uh, okay," the blonde replied somewhat confusedly.

Not wanting to push her limits with Garcia, and definitely not wanting her credit score tanked or her bank accounts cleared out, Emily made a hasty retreat towards the dance floor with JJ in tow.

As Penelope watched them go she mentally berated herself for giving Emily the upper hand. Though she should really be blaming Derek for his inability to keep his flirting to a minimum and for distracting her from playing Emily like she had planned.

Smacking his arm angrily, she glared at the burly man. "Damn it Derek, we went over this!"

Upon seeing Morgan's confused expression, Penelope huffed and pointed towards the woman he had been chatting up just moments ago, "No flirting. We're supposed to be a couple and while I love a threesome just as much as the next gal, I'm not going to have all my hard work and planning ruined over it."

"Baby Girl, it was a little harmless flirting; it would look weird if I _didn't_ do it."

Deciding not to respond to his feeble excuse, Garcia focused her attention on the two women dancing slowly on the dance floor, trying to formulate yet another plan that would work to her advantage.

If messing with Emily wouldn't work, then she would just have to try and get psych out JJ.

* * *

Emily was glad that one of the first things they were doing as a couple was something they had done quite regularly as friends. Dancing and drinks was always a good outlet when the week had been hectic or they had worked a particularly hard case.

The profiler was sure that it was the music that made it so much easier to let things go and just focus on something else; the distraction of just moving to the beat being the best remedy for a bad day, week or even month.

Which was why it felt incredibly easy to just grab JJ by the hips and pull her close as the soft and slow beat filtered out through the speakers. From the way JJ's arms automatically wrapped around her neck, Emily figured it was just as easy for the media liaison to slip into the comfort they had cultivated over years of friendship.

The two were content to just sway to the relaxing beat, knowing full well that the slow song wouldn't last long. Closing her eyes, Emily tightened her grip on JJ and pulled her closer, finding it oddly warming to have the blonde's head resting lightly on her shoulder.

Still riding on the high from mentally besting Penelope, Emily made a snap decision to just welcome whatever happened with opened arms. It was a fun bet and she was going to just let go and see how things turned out.

So as the music sped up and the bodies around them started to move more sporadically, Emily kept her grip on JJ and slowly started to shake her hips to the beat. If there was ever a time to test boundaries, a night of dancing was the perfect one.

The first thing JJ noticed as they moved about on the dance floor was the way that Emily moved with a liquid grace that didn't seem to fit with her usually stiff and proper posture. It was always surprising to see her move when music started pumping through the club, to see her friend move as though she could feel the music and pulsing beat in her very bones.

It was that very reason that going out dancing was so enjoyable, not only was Emily able to keep up with her but it was a sight to behold to see someone get so absorbed in the songs.

But this time, as they allowed themselves to get swallowed up in the crowd, separated from the others by a mass of moving bodies, it felt different. Normally, the atmosphere that surrounded them was pleasant and friendly; it was a feeling of comfort that only the deepest levels of friendship could create.

Now, though, as JJ's hands slid down Emily's arms and rested on her swaying hips, the level of comfort was there but it was no longer pleasant and friendly but searing hot and charged. Every spot her hands touched made her skin tingle and her heart thump wildly.

It was an astounding sensation, something she never expected to experience when she completely let go of everything and just decided to…_feel_.

"C'mon Jareau, if you can't keep up I'll have to swap out dance partners," Emily's husky and smooth voice echoed in her ears, immediately snapping her back to reality.

Nodding, despite the fact that Emily's eyes were now closed and no longer focused on her, JJ turned off her brain and allowed herself to get just as lost in the beat as Emily was.

The floor thumped with the sheer volume of the song, the bodies surrounding them seeming to vibrate with every beat of the bass. Voices and sounds were lost as the fast paced song played on, the smell of sweat and alcohol hanging heavy in the air as more bodies tried to squeeze onto the dance floor.

Finally getting a feeling for the music, JJ closed her eyes and smiled as she felt a familiar pair of hands ghosting over her sides before firmly intertwining with her own. Maybe it was the body heat that was emanating from the cluster of moving bodies around them or just the pure warmth that radiated off of Emily's due to her proximity, but JJ could feel Emily's body searing her flesh wherever it touched.

Pressing her front even closer to the blonde's back, Emily directed their movements. Her hands slowly raising JJ's into the air before slowly sliding her fingers down the toned and tanned flesh of her forearms.

Every hair on JJ's body stood at attention the moment the profiler made direct contact with her skin, a strange sense of anticipation building within her as she allowed herself to fully feel the motions.

Continuing their torturously slow trek down JJ's toned arms, Emily's hands made their way down her sides, her fingers grazing over the small patch of tanned and toned flesh of the blonde's abdomen. Emily, entirely enjoying the chance to test their limits, pushed herself flush against JJ, her chest pressing tightly to the blonde's back, her hips grinding deliciously into JJ's rear.

The sensory overload of not only the intimate movements but the way Emily seemed to be pushing all of the right buttons, was nearly too much for JJ to handle.

Her breath caught in her throat at the sensation of Emily's chest pressing into her back, the full mounds of flesh that seemed to burn into her were nearly mind scrambling. That wasn't even touching on the fact that the profiler's long fingers were thrumming along her bare stomach, the skin left goose bumped and burning as lithe digits danced across her abdominals.

If none of that had totally burned out her brain, the mere _act_ of Emily's hot breath once again washing over the shell of her ear, the slightest hint of the profiler's tongue lightly tracing the outline, was enough to let a guttural moan—that JJ was never more glad to have drowned out by the music and people around them—fly from her lips followed by a quick inhale of air, as if she could suck the sound back into her throat.

"Having fun?" Emily questioned slyly, all too aware of the affect her ministrations were having on the flushed blonde, almost giddy with delight at having the ability to reduce someone so thoroughly.

Of course, it was easy for Emily to act cocky when she was leading things, but she was completely certain of the fact that if JJ were to reverse their positions and repeat the moves she had just pulled, she would be nothing more than a puddle of overworked and highly aroused goo.

Luckily though, JJ hadn't realized that and Emily was only too happy to keep it that way.

"Tons," Jennifer croaked, her throat ridiculously dry as she extricated herself from Emily's grip and blindly staggered towards the bar. It only took for the rush of seemingly cold air to engulf her for the blonde to realize how much it saddened her to have left the warmth of Emily's embrace.

Shaking her head in annoyance and more than a little confusion, JJ rejected the idea of foregoing her need for hydration and heading back to Emily's side, and weaved through the throngs of people until she was leaning over the bar counter and ordering a beer.

"Having fun sweetie?" Garcia's voice asked cheerfully from her side, making JJ jump what felt like ten feet into the air.

"Jesus, Pen, don't do that!" The blonde admonished her friend, hand clasped over her still racing heart.

"Sorry, but I did try to wave and get your attention." Garcia said without the slightest hint of remorse, her eyes twinkling as she blatantly diverted her attention over JJ's shoulder. "I might have been a bit hasty in my initial conclusion on those two," the analyst said casually, her brown eyes never once redirecting themselves towards JJ. The tech analyst wasn't even _trying_ to hide how blatantly she was directing the conversation and goading JJ into looking where her focus was currently resided.

"Who? What are you talking about Pen?" JJ asked, confused as to what in the heck her friend was talking about. Sometimes it was a real pain to try and decipher Garcia's often flighty and unrelated thoughts or comments.

"Them." Penelope said simply, her index finger pointed right at the spot JJ had just been and where a muscular and very familiar man was now placed. "I didn't think so at the time but after spending more one-on-one time with him, I can see it now."

JJ, unable to completely hide the stirring of jealousy that was bubbling in her veins like molten lava, could only try to tamp down on the murderous glare she was directing towards Derek Morgan.

"You see it too, right?" Penelope asked casually, fighting off a smirk as she watched a fire light behind JJ's bright blue eyes. It was almost _too_ easy to rile JJ up, and it almost made Penelope feel bad for doing it.

Almost.

But alas, it was a competition and JJ was really just too entertaining when she was angry and jealous.

"They look awkward together," the media liaison finally managed to bite out, her brow furrowed as she tried to mentally set the burly man on fire for touching Emily so intimately. "And isn't what he's doing to her against the terms of the bet?"

Garcia snorted in amusement, "Sweetie they're _dancing_. If his hands disappear from sight or he starts to get really frisky with her, then it's fair to say the rule's been broken, but for now, we're good. Besides, he's done _way_ worse when we've danced. You should see the things that man can do with just his right hand. I mean, we were on the dance floor when suddenly it just disappeared and—"

"No!" JJ shouted immediately, her head shaking furious as she blanched at the thought of hearing about the sordid dance techniques that probably (re: most definitely) bordered on public indecency and indecent exposure. "God, I do _not_ need those kinds of images in my head."

Now filled with a combination of disgust and anger with a sprinkling of jealousy, JJ could only down her beer and hope to escape from Penelope. It only took one sex comment from the tech analyst to get things started and JJ was not nearly drunk enough to handle hearing about the weird sexploits Garcia embarked on. Whether or not they involved Morgan was completely irrelevant.

It was also no thanks to Garcia's beginnings of a story that JJ now felt as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over her head, the warm and inviting touch of Emily's fingers that had left her skin tingling was suddenly gone. All-in-all, JJ was not a happy camper at the moment.

And if Morgan didn't take his meaty paws off her girlfriend, however temporary she was, JJ was going to punch him right in his smug face. Maybe it was the buzz from her beer or just the stupid buildup of hormones that was wreaking havoc on her, but she was feeling ridiculously tough and territorial.

She would have grabbed Emily and dragged her out of the club like a modern day caveman if it meant showing Morgan just who Emily belonged to. But as it stood, Emily was a) never one to be manhandled and b) not rightfully JJ's to drag away.

Whatever.

It just made staking her claim that much harder and thought worthy.

And then it came to her. A solution so perfect and revenge exacting that JJ couldn't pass it up even if she wanted to.

Just as Morgan leaned down to say something in Emily's ear, JJ hip checked him out of the way, mentally snapping a picture of the awe-struck look on his face to relish later, before firmly grabbing Emily's face and pressing their lips firmly together.

It wasn't a hasty kiss by any means but it was deep and definitely got the message across that Emily, the beautiful raven haired dancer, was JJ's and JJ's alone.

"Do I get a kiss like that every time I dance with someone or just Morgan?" Emily asked when they broke apart, her cocky grin only serving to make JJ dive in for another kiss; if only to reassert her claim and make the profiler forget all about Derek Morgan. It was unacceptable for his name to fall from those perfectly plump pink lips after JJ had kissed them so thoroughly, and the blonde was completely willing to continue to kiss Emily until the name Derek Morgan was wiped from her memory.

Left dazed and more than a little turned on from the onslaught of kisses, Emily lost the upper hand she had had on JJ as she stumbled back a fraction. "Dance," the profiler spluttered, her mind momentarily lost in a thick haze of fog, "we should, uh, dance."

"Dancing sounds great," JJ whispered confidently into Emily's ear before her hands were firmly attached to Emily's swaying hips, her leg sliding easily between the profiler's legs as they moved further into the crowd.

Regaining only a fraction of her composure, Emily only had enough time to register the thigh that resided between her legs before their movements had her mind blanking out again.

'_No, no, no! Focus Emily!_' the profiler screamed in her head, aware that JJ was now leading things and enjoying it far too much. It was only when JJ's lips pressed to her neck and the slightest hints of suction began did Emily finally emerge from her hormonal haze.

There was no way in hell JJ was going to mark her up.

Narrowing her eyes at the tactic, Emily created as much distance between them as was possible, immediately missing the friction JJ's thigh had been creating. Within the blink of an eye, Emily was using the blonde's moves against her.

Easily sliding her thigh between JJ's legs, Emily pulled the blonde closer and licked up the expanse of her neck. The salty taste only served to push her onward as her hands slipped beneath the thin fabric of JJ's shirt, her fingertips grazing along the blonde's back before splaying widely over the expanse of skin.

"You don't get to be in charge of this, Jennifer," Emily husked in her ear, her teeth gently scraping over the blonde's ear lobe. "And you certainly don't get to leave a hickey on my neck."

JJ, suddenly lost in the feeling of Emily's fingers on her back, the sensation of her thigh flexing and sliding between her legs and the way her teeth grazed over her ear lobe, couldn't even begin to process what Emily was saying.

She did, however, realize all too late that Emily's lips were no longer near her ear but on her neck. She also realized all too late that Emily was biting down on her sensitive flesh before sliding her tongue over it and sucking gently.

Their roles had been reversed and Emily had just left a bright red love bite on JJ's neck.

But in the moment, JJ was too lost to really care. All she knew was that there was a buildup of warmth in the pit of her belly and Emily was touching her all over and JJ just couldn't find it in herself to worry about a hickey.

"Are you enjoying yourself Jennifer?" Emily asked, her voice deep and husky.

Nodding dumbly, JJ wrapped her arms around Emily's neck and pulled them that much closer.

Emily's grin was wide and dangerous, her hands beginning to grow bolder in their exploration of JJ's body.

Before her exploration could go anywhere good, Penelope was cutting in and pulling the pair off the dance floor and towards the doors.

"What the hell Pen?" JJ shouted angrily, having been thoroughly enjoying what Emily was doing to her.

"Sweetie, if I left you two any longer you might have ended up having sex on the dance floor."

Morgan, busy pushing an equally annoyed Emily out the door, could only nod his agreement.

"It's called dancing Garcia. Maybe if you weren't so busy watching Morgan dance with every woman in the club you would have been able to enjoy the activity." Emily snarked, bothered more by the fact that her fun with a willing and pliant JJ had been ended than anything else.

"Oh, Emily, if that's what you call dancing I can only imagine the kinkery you get into in the bedroom." Garcia quipped back, not even touching on the fact that she had spent the majority of her night away from Morgan. Emily didn't need to be harping on that; it would only ruin Garcia's plans.

Sobering up now that the cold air was hitting her and she was free from the loud music, JJ's flushed face slowly started to lighten and her eyes widened. "Maybe we should call it a day."

Emily, seeing her chance to push things to the limit was over, grumbled but didn't object.

Before Emily and JJ split off from Morgan and Garcia, Emily waved an accusing finger at the tech analyst. "Don't think I'm not catching onto what you're doing Garcia." Keeping her voice low enough so JJ didn't hear it, Emily glared at the tech analyst, who was smiling widely, for a moment before turning around and walking with JJ back to mode of transportation.

Once they were out of earshot, Garcia turned to Morgan, her smile falling away in an instant as her lips pursed, "We need to change tactics."

"Babygirl, maybe this isn't the best idea. When Prentiss sets her mind on something she doesn't usually let it go until she's either proved right or uncovers the whole thing." Morgan also didn't want this thing affecting his work; if Emily caught on to what they were doing it probably wouldn't end well.

"Oh stop your worrying," Garcia said admonishingly, her hand waving in Morgan's face as she stared at JJ and Emily's retreating figures, "I'm not called the all-knowing for no reason."

Furrowing his brow, Derek lightly smacked Penelope's hand away from his face, "Only _you_ call yourself that."

Not at all bothered by his comment, Garcia dismissed it. "Doesn't matter."

Deciding not to offer anything more, Derek just stood by Penelope's side and let the mastermind of the operation begin her plotting. JJ and Emily had absolutely no idea what they had gotten themselves into by entering a bet with Penelope Garcia, that much Morgan was sure of.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone to who PMed me or left suggestions in the reviews! There were a ton of really great ideas and I'm really looking forward to working them into the story. **

**You're all awesome for reading this and following along, I hope it continues to entertain! :)**


	4. Such a Cliche

Waking up in someone else's company was…interesting, to say the least—at least on Emily's part. It was easy to fall into the habit of sleeping next to someone when there was already a foundation of comfort there, but it was shockingly easy to lay down beside JJ and just relax.

Relaxation was not always something Emily found especially easy to do; her mind seemed like it was always 'on' and only in the rarest of situations could she experience those fleeting moments of mental white noise.

So it was a shock to be able to share a bed with someone and not feel the need to over think every single movement or motion, to not have to psychoanalyze what it would mean or the consequences. There was that underlying layer of comfort that Emily reveled in.

It was that odd level of comfort and fearless ability to engage physically, at least in order to win a bet—though Emily could tell that the lines that separated the bet from something more _could_ be easily muddled and tangled— that made it all too easy to slip into the idea of the two being in a relationship.

Plus, it didn't hurt that Emily was the more logical of the two, leaning more towards tangible facts rather than relying on emotions. Too many of her emotions tended to get buried and pushed aside for her to really rely on the accuracy of them or to feel comfortable making a decision based solely on them.

Which is why it stood to reason that a relationship between them was basically just friendship combined with intimacy and exclusivity. That was something Emily could easily agree to.

It's not like men — or women if her ease and willingness to enter into a relationship with JJ was anything to go by — were lining up to date her. Who would want to be with someone who could at any moment need to just up and leave for days at a time? To be with someone who had a dangerous job that required the need to wait by the phone, to stay at home and wonder if that was the day she wouldn't be coming home? Relationships were hard enough as it is, adding in Emily's profession only complicated matters.

So in that sense, Emily could see the promise the temporary relationship offered.

But the fact remained that the profiler was in it to win it and if she needed to wine and dine the blonde to achieve the desired outcome, she would do it. She was far too competitive to lose to the worst gloaters in the world—Penelope Garcia and Derek Morgan.

With that thought firmly ensconced in her mind, Emily slowly slid out of the bed and went through her morning routine before making her way downstairs to prepare breakfast.

* * *

Just as the bacon was beginning to crisp, Emily heard the telltale signs of JJ's approach. The stairs creaked quietly as the blonde descended the steps and lazily made her way into the kitchen, her eyes closed as she inhaled the scent of coffee, bacon and fried eggs.

"Breakfast?" The media liaison asked as she made to prepare her ritualized steaming cup of coffee.

"Yeah," Emily responded distractedly, her mind focused on plating the food and setting it on the table.

"I didn't know one of the perks of this bet was getting made breakfast," the blonde mentioned offhandedly, already taking her seat at the table.

"I offer a plethora of services," the profiler said cheekily, her statement meant to be innocent but the inflection in her voice and the devilish glint in her eyes making the blonde think otherwise. "Some you'll be discovering very soon."

JJ, choked on her mouthful of coffee, staring wide eyed at Emily.

The profiler, for her part, just took her seat at the table and began to read the newspaper while occasionally taking bites of her food, completely unfazed by JJ's shock at the comment.

As Emily continued to eat her food and read the paper, JJ sat rigidly in her seat and pondered over the implications of her actions with Emily the night before and the hidden meaning in the words she had just muttered.

It seemed no matter how casual and relaxed she tried to be with this situation, a niggling sense of worry always resurfaced. And when given the chance, her mind broke things down until she was left feeling out of her element and slightly uncomfortable.

"JJ, shut up." Emily said calmly but sternly, never lifting her gaze from the newspaper in her hands. "And I mean that in the nicest way possible." She added as an afterthought, before taking a bite of her food.

"I didn't say anything," JJ responded confusedly, her eyebrows knit together as she tried to figure out if she had accidentally voiced her thoughts aloud.

"You didn't have to," Emily groused, still focused on the article she was reading. "I can hear your obnoxiously loud thoughts from here."

Peeved at the comment, JJ huffed and went back to eating, choosing not to respond to Emily's comment.

Sensing no resolution in the near future, Emily dropped her fork onto her plate and slowly folded her newspaper. "Okay, what's the problem?" The profiler asked, sounding only slightly exasperated at the need to pull the information from the blonde, knowing that if she didn't address whatever the problem was, that it would only lead to trouble later.

Shuffling the food around on her plate, JJ quickly shoved a forkful into her mouth to avoid answering the question; or to at least buy her some more time to mull over what she wanted to say.

Emily watched as JJ slowly chewed her food, wondering if the blonde would employ the thirty-two chew rule just to get out of saying whatever was on her mind.

Swallowing her food, unable to chew it anymore, JJ took a long a measured sip of her coffee before turning towards Emily.

"Oh my God, JJ," Emily finally said, her humor at the pained expression on JJ's face evident in her barely suppressed laughter. "Stop looking like I'm going to yank your teeth out." The profiler shook her head in disbelief, "I only asked a question."

"How can you act so normally?" The blonde blurted out, her finger suddenly pointed accusingly at Emily.

"Uh," The profiler dragged out, her eyebrows practically disappearing into her hairline as she struggled to see the problem. "Should I be acting differently?" She said slowly, eyes focused on JJ as she asked the tentative question.

JJ, not understanding how Emily could forget their behavior from the night before, could only gape at the other woman. "Are you serious?"

Emily, still having no idea what the hell JJ was going on about, just continued to stare back blankly. "This must be how guys feel in a relationship," Emily mused quietly, now understanding why men in relationships complained about not understanding what their girlfriends were freaking out about. Because as it stood, Emily had no idea what JJ was having an embolism over.

"Jen, we're close and all, and most of the time I can guess what you're thinking or trying to say but right now I don't have a damn clue." Emily said truthfully, her wry smirk returning at her next words. "Unless the rest of your sentence was cut off because you hit a frequency that only dogs can hear, because honestly Jen, that was surprisingly high pitched."

"It was not!" JJ snapped, even more annoyed with Emily for trying to make a joke when the blonde was clearly overwhelmed. "And stop acting so...casually!"

Snorting in amusement, Emily waved off JJ's comment. "And what, pray-tell, am I acting casual over?"

Narrowing her eyes at Emily's nonchalance, JJ glared at the other woman. "Everything."

"Everything?" Emily questioned, her smirk disappearing as she struggled to understand just what it was that JJ was complaining about. "What's 'everything'?"

"This," JJ waved her hand between them, "Last night, when we were dancing," she exclaimed, her blue eyes blazing as she waited for Emily to catch on. "The kisses, the groping, the way we were practically _dry humping_ on the dance floor last night!" The blonde hissed, her cheeks tinted pink in embarrassment at the last point.

Emily's mouth dropped open in a silent 'O' as she finally grasped what JJ was complaining about. "So, no dirty dancing then?" The profiler asked calmly and seriously.

"No dirty dancing?!" JJ shouted, torn between yanking her hair out in frustration and slapping some sense into Emily. "Are you purposely missing my point?"

Realizing she was the only one amused by the conversation, Emily attempted to sober up and address JJ concerns seriously.

"Sorry," she muttered, though both women knew she wasn't all that apologetic. "But I'm failing to see the problem here. What exactly has you so worked up?"

"All of it!" JJ exclaimed again, wondering why Emily was being so dense over things when not so long ago she was voicing the same concerns.

"I thought you were fine with all of this?" Emily asked, slightly exasperated with the way JJ was being so wishy-washy. Honestly, the whole thing was on JJ anyway, at least Emily had the decency to point out all the freak-out worthy things _before_ the bet started; JJ was just being ridiculous waiting until they were on their third day to have her melt down.

"When I mentioned the hand holding, the kissing, the intimacy, you were all like, 'Oh my God, Em, we do that stuff _all_ the time! We're practically girlfriends as it is!" Emily mimicked in an overly high pitched voice, her hands fluttering in the air as she did the poorest imitation of JJ possible. "And we're both extremely attractive and would make a beautiful power couple. I'm a media liaison and you are the embodiment of perfection, what with your mastery of various languages, unparalleled beauty and overall level of awesomeness." Her imitation continued as she pretended to dramatically swoon during her description, her eyelashes fluttering and her hands clasped gently over her chest.

"First of all," JJ grumbled, "I sound nothing like that. I don't even think it's possible for my voice to go that high." The blonde, noticing the devilish smirk on Emily's lips and the no doubt unnecessarily dirty comment or joke about ready to be said, immediately cut her off. "Don't even say it!"

Emily's mouth snapped shut, the sound of her jaw slamming shut echoing in the otherwise silent room.

"And I said that we do most of the couple-ish things already. But it's easier to say that stuff when you aren't so caught up in the moment that you're practically dry humping your dance partner," JJ snarled, her usually calm attitude fizzling away as she got to what had really been bugging her.

"That's what's got you so worked up?" Emily asked quickly before JJ's fiery look had her clearing her throat unnecessarily. "Sorry," she said quietly, her eyes averted so as not to upset the blonde any more. "But that's what you're freaking out over? How we danced last night?"

JJ, still not getting how Emily was acting so calmly and rationally, could only gape at the profiler. "Of course that's what I'm freaking out over! Who knows how much further things would have gone if Garcia hadn't dragged us out of there."

At that, Emily snorted, her chuckle throaty and completely inelegant. "You can't be serious," the profiler said between laughs. "Do you honestly think that little of my self-control? We were dancing, not having sex. There was no way I was going to let things escalate that far."

"You can't know for sure," JJ challenged, her face steely with determination even though deep down, she knew Emily was right.

"I can know that for sure." The profiler responded just as confidently, her eye roll a given as she returned to her breakfast. "Besides, why are you freaking out about this stuff anyways? Aren't you supposed to be one the who's trying to get _me_ to relax?"

"I _would_, if you didn't seem so at ease with it all," the blonde muttered petulantly, mirroring Emily's actions and returning to her breakfast.

"It's not that I'm at ease," Emily stated casually and slowly, measuring her words as she tried to phrase it in the right way. "I've just surrendered myself to the inevitable. You should try it."

"Surrendered yourself to the inevitable?" JJ parroted, her puzzlement evident as she tried to figure out just what the hell Emily was talking about. "Are you saying that us getting together was inevitable?"

"Stop being so literal," Emily sighed, once again waving the blonde off. "All I mean is that we've locked ourselves into this bet so there's no point in getting squeamish and over-thinking things that we can't do much about. Neither of us are willing to forfeit, so we have to resign ourselves to the inevitable." The profiler shrugged, the motion clearly saying 'what can you do?'.

"So you're telling me, the stoic and slightly uptight Emily Prentiss is perfectly fine being intimate with another woman? Her best friend?" JJ questioned, making sure all her bases were covered.

Shrugging again — a movement that was beginning to grate on JJ's nerves — Emily swallowed her food and nodded, "Basically, yeah." The raven haired woman tilted her head in contemplation, "I mean, as far as compatibility goes, we're a pretty solid match. Our jobs are the same, we've known each other for years, we're best friends and if the last few days are anything to go by, breaking through the physical barrier isn't all that hard."

"Is this your way of saying you want to date me for real?" JJ questioned, curious as to what Emily had spiked her coffee with to make her come up with such crazy ideas and notions.

"Jareau, you're so full of yourself!" Emily said in shock, her face scrunched up as she contemplated months if not years of what JJ was currently putting her through. "We're only on our third day and I feel like we've processed our feelings at least twice a day since then. If you're this high maintenance, then no. I'm just saying that I'm not going to act squeamish an withdrawn during the next eleven days."

"I'm not high maintenance," the media liaison countered, indignant at the accusation. "I just like to talk things out instead of letting them build up, sue me."

"You are the epitome of a lesbian cliché, Jen." Emily said breezily, unfolding her newspaper and beginning to reread the article from earlier.

"What, just because I want to talk things out?" JJ asked, narrowing her eyes challengingly at Emily, despite the fact that the profiler couldn't see her.

Emily put down the paper and held up her index finger, "You asked me to move in before our first official date," her middle finger went up, "you feel the need to constantly discuss feelings." Her ring finger went up as she ticked off the third thing, "And I can already tell you're going to need to process and talk about every single thing we do, like dancing or holding hands and figure out what it means in the grand scheme of things." Her pinky finger rose as she rolled her eyes skyward and tried to think of a fourth thing. "I'm sure there are others, but they aren't really coming to mind, so that's all I have for now."

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, "Either way, you're kind of a cliché so stop over thinking things and just enjoy the ride." Emily eyed the blonde for a second, "Worse case scenario, you made out with your best friend for two weeks, best case scenario, we win the bet and get a free dinner."

"Who are you and what have you done to my friend Emily Prentiss?" JJ asked seriously, still not seeing how Emily could have such an abrupt change in opinion on the matter. Just a few days ago she was about five seconds from a panic attack about kissing, and now she was practically devouring JJ on the dance floor. It wasn't really adding up for the blonde.

Emily rolled her eyes again, sighing in annoyance at the sudden emergence of JJ's thick skull. "I've already said. I'm not going to panic about every little thing we do and neither should you. This is supposed to be fun and if you spent every second worrying about what us holding hands or kissing means, you're going to be miserable. So shut up and stop being a whiney girlfriend."

JJ, not entirely used to this carefree take-charge attitude Emily was employing, could only nod and go with the flow.

"Okay, one condition though, Emily." The blonde said, her tone suddenly serious as her blue eyes stared into Emily's brown ones.

Hesitantly, Emily nodded, "Okay, what is it?"

"You have to promise not to fall in love with me," JJ said suddenly, her solemn gaze still on the profiler, her voice shockingly serious.

"Uh" Emily floundered, unsure where that was coming from and not entirely sure how to respond. "Okay?" She finally settled on, her response coming out as a question.

"Really?" JJ practically shouted, lightly smacking Emily in the arm as she tried to read if the profiler's puzzlement was genuine or not. "A Walk to Remember?"

Pursing her lips and shaking her head slowly, Emily continued to stare at the blonde. "That's a movie, right?"

Sighing in exasperation, JJ's head shook sadly, "Garcia would have gotten that reference."

Grabbing her phone and pretending to dial the number, Emily smirked and let her finger hover over the button to start the call, "I'm sure she'd be more than willing to swap. After our dance last night, I'm sure Morgan would be on board too."

As her finger moved slowly downward, just millimeters from starting the call, JJ slapped her hand away and snatched the phone. "No, nu-uh, no way," the blonde said vehemently, her head shaking wildly. "There is no way I'm swapping you out for Penelope, especially not after what she started telling me yesterday." JJ visibly shuddered, her face screwing up in mild disgust and fear.

"Don't be so melodramatic Jen," Emily chided, making a feeble attempt to get her phone back, "Garcia would do wonders for you. She'd have you embracing lesbianism before you even knew what was happening."

"Embracing lesbianism?" JJ repeated, dragging out each word as if she couldn't understand what they meant. "There has to be a connection for it to be considered a lesbian relationship, though, right?"

Rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time, Emily snatched her phone back and started to place her dishes in the sink. "I wasn't being serious, Jen. But knowing Garcia, she would consider it a challenge to make you engage intimately with her. She kind of a sex fiend."

"Too much info, Em," JJ quickly said, only seconds away from jamming her fingers into her ears to block out any further comments on Penelope's wild and raunchy sex life.

"Whatever you say, Pooky Bear," Emily said dismissively, taking the moment to try out one of the many over the top pet names she had come up with for JJ.

It took a moment for JJ to realize what Emily had called her, but after it finally registered in her head, she snapped her head up and glared at the profiler. "What did you just call me?"

Quirking an eyebrow and smiling devilishly, Emily quickly adopted an innocent look, her shoulders raising and falling as she tried to pass the name off as casual as possible. "Pooky Bear?"

"Where the hell did _that_ come from?" Not entirely opposed to nick names, JJ wasn't all that willing to accept a name as ridiculous as Pooky Bear.

"I dunno," the profiler responded, having pretended to think it over despite having been brainstorming possible names since the bet had started. "But, fun fact, I'm pretty sure he's the teddy bear Garfield used to have."

"You named me after a fat cartoon cat's stuffed animal?" the blonde asked incredulously.

Emily, not sure what JJ's problem with the name was, could only stare. "Well, no. I didn't know that was the teddy bears name until _after_ I picked the name. But if you want, I can pick a different one."

"I don't want a pet name, Emily."

Ignoring JJ's comment, Emily started to list off as many names as she could remember. "Sweetie is a little bland and Garcia has it practically trademarked so that's out. So is Pumpkin, but I'd never call a significant other that, it sounds a little too childish. How about snookums?"

Affronted by the suggestion, the blonde emphatically shook her head, "No way. That's just as bad a Pooky Bear."

Sighing in faux annoyance, Emily leveled an unimpressed stare at the blonde, "If you don't like it then suggest something you would, otherwise I'm just going to pick one and stick with it."

Unperturbed by the threat, JJ squared her shoulders and prepared to leave the area. "If that's how we're going to play it then that means I'll get free reign on the pet name for you and trust me Em, you won't like what I choose or how often I employ it."

Unwilling to back down but not entirely willing to test the truth of JJ's threat, Emily straightened her back and prepared to follow the blonde out of the room. "Fine, we'll put a pin in this, but trust me, by the time our two weeks is up, you'll have a pet name."

JJ's response was to simply laugh at the persistent profiler, knowing full well that they would both probably have names for one another and positive neither would entirely enjoy them. "You keep telling yourself that, Em."

Narrowing her eyes at the condescending tone, Emily huffed quietly and stopped trailing behind the blonde. "I will," she grumbled petulantly, idly wondering why being around JJ so much was reducing her to childish tendencies.

* * *

As the day wore on and the need to get out and do something was growing, Emily decided to drag the blonde somewhere where she would be comfortable and in her element.

"Hurry up and get down here, JJ" Emily shouted from the bottom of the stairs, giving herself the once over in the mirror as she waited. The profiler, clad in a plain black v-neck, a pair of jeans and gym shoes, tapped her foot impatiently as the blonde took her sweet time getting ready.

"Seriously, Jen, hurry up! How hard is it to throw on a pair of jeans and a shirt?" Emily once again shouted, wanting to beat the probably nonexistent rush to their destination. It wasn't like they were going to an extremely popular place or would be fighting crowds of people.

"Calm down," JJ said suddenly as she made her way down the stairs. "It's not like we need to rush."

"Yeah, well," Emily started to say, her attention momentarily diverted as she looked at the blonde in her casual attire. Looking at her with minimal makeup, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and sporting jeans and a t-shirt, Emily thought, not for the first time, that there was little to nothing JJ couldn't pull off. Quite honestly, JJ looked stunning, especially when she wore blue shirts that made her eyes look infinitesimally deeper and bluer.

"We, uh, we should go," Emily muttered, her eyes quickly averting so as to not get caught staring again. With JJ still being a little skittish, it wouldn't do to be caught openly appraising her outfit.

"Yeah, definitely," JJ responded, just as dazed as Emily had been. The blonde had been out with Emily countless times before, they had seen one another in ratty sweats for their lazy nights and also dressed up and ready to hit the town, but no matter what the profiler wore, she always seemed to make it look elegant. Though this time, dressed casually, JJ couldn't help but think Emily looked even more beautiful. It was her relaxed expression and sudden openness that made JJ do a double take, her mind starting to go places she wasn't entirely sure she wanted it to go.

Shaking the thoughts away, JJ grabbed her bag and followed the profiler out the door.

* * *

Smiling widely, JJ rushed up to the line, her arm swinging backward before she swung it forwards and sent the ball in her hand flying down the lane.

Emily sat at the computer, her pride long since dead as she punched in JJ's score for the round—yet another strike.

The profiler knew she was going to be terrible at this game, having only played it a handful of times and never having scored above a fifty, but she didn't think she would be _this _bad at the game.

It probably didn't help that JJ seemed to be a professional bowler, having divulged after the first frame that she often spent her free time as a kid either bowling or playing soccer.

As the blonde sauntered back to the chairs, a wide and overly (though completely justified) cocky grin on her face, Emily felt the need to defend what little dignity and pride she had left. "Just you wait until I'm warmed up Jareau."

JJ, completely unfazed by the profilers words, shrugged her shoulders and widened her smile. "Exactly how many more games until you're warmed up, Em? Because we're on our third game and so far, you've gotten progressively worse."

"I just haven't found my groove yet," Emily retorted as she grabbed her newly acquired ball and approached the line just before the lane. "Watch how it's done, Jareau," Emily taunted, so caught up in defending her pride that she momentarily forgot just how terrible she was at the sport.

"I'm watching," JJ replied, amusement evident in her voice and expression as she witnessed the profiler toss the bowling ball down the lane.

Both women kept their eyes glued on the black ball as it slowly rolled down the lane before veering to the left and solidly landing in the gutter. Resisting the urge to swear or will the ground to swallow her up, Emily reluctantly turned around and once again came face to face with the overconfident blonde.

"Wow, you sure showed me," JJ taunted, making sure to exaggerate her movements as she entered Emily's score of zero. "Can't wait to see your unparalleled skills for this next throw."

"I hate you," Emily grumbled, once again grabbing her newly returned ball and swiftly approaching the throw line. With more force than last time, the profiler swung the ball, watching with barely hidden hope as it rolled quickly down the lane before veering once again to the left.

The profiler nearly pumped her fist in joy as the ball knocked down five of the pins, having learned to appreciate whatever score she could get.

"Way to go, Em," JJ said genuinely, finding the sight of Emily just then almost too adorable to mock. Almost being the key word. "In about ten more games, you might actually come close to beating me."

Huffing in annoyance, her joy short-lived, Emily took her seat behind the computer and prepared to punch in yet another one of JJ's inevitable strikes. "I hope you get a gutterball."

"Please," JJ said breezily as she reared her arm back and released the ball, not even bothering to watch it as it rolled down the lane. "I never get gutterballs, that's all you Emily."

The sound of pins clattering echoed behind the blonde and she involuntarily smiled.

Emily smacked her head into the table, wondering just how much humiliation was worth the knowledge that JJ wasn't obsessing on the bet.

As the profiler bit her tongue and grabbed her ball, she was shocked to find JJ following behind her as they approached the throw line. "If you're going to mock my terrible bowling skills, I only ask that you do it from at least five feet away. No need to destroy what's left of my shriveled and battered dignity Jen."

Ignoring the words, JJ's hand wrapped around Emily's wrist as she slowly guided the profiler's arm into the correct position. "Relax your arm," JJ instructed, her grip tightening just a fraction as she straightened out Emily's wrist.

Slowly, she pulled Emily's arm down and back, showing the profiler the best way to throw the ball so it would go straight and keep from skewing to the side like it had done so many times before. "Keep your wrist straight and try to aim for the middle pin."

Emily, unaccustomed to being walked through things, having always been too stubborn to ask for help, found herself only half processing the advice, all too caught up in the proximity of the other woman.

Nodding dumbly, the profiler took a much needed step away from JJ, her brain suddenly less foggy and her breathing returning to normal.

Swinging her arm back and doing her best to keep her wrist straight, Emily lined the throw up and tossed the ball down the lane, watching with curiosity as it followed a straight path down and collided into the middle pin. As the middle pin tumbled, the pins surrounding it fell like dominos until none of them were left standing.

"Congrats, Em!" JJ said excitedly, immediately wrapping the profiler in a hug.

"Thanks," Emily mumbled, wondering why she was suddenly feeling like an awkward teenager. Playing a game that she was terrible at had clearly taken away some of her ever-present confidence and she could only hope that when their date rolled around, she wouldn't feel like such a blundering dork.

"Seriously, Em," JJ said as they approached the computer to enter the score, "that was great."

The sudden seriousness of JJ's words made Emily think she was being complimented on something other than her improved bowling ability, but rather than dwell on it, she simply nodded and prepared to fetch a new pitcher of beer.

One pizza and three additional games later, the two women were calling it a day and heading back to their shared home. "I had fun tonight," JJ said quietly, surprised to have forgotten just how much fun bowling could be.

"I'm glad," Emily responded, smiling softly as they made their way to the car. "But it'll be nothing compared to our first date."

"That confident?" JJ asked after a moment, having partly believed that outing to have been their first date.

"Completely," Emily replied easily, having already come up with a list of things she wanted to do for her planned date. JJ wasn't going to know what hit her.

"I'm looking forward to it," the blonde said, her curiosity piqued as she tried to imagine just what an Emily Prentiss planned date would consist of.

Choosing not to reply, Emily simply nodded her agreement, completely confident in her ability to knock JJ's socks off once their date night arrived.


	5. An Unforeseen Shift in Tide

Emily and JJ both walked into the BAU with twin grins, their coffee cups held loosely in their hands as they chuckled over a shared joke, something that immediately pinged on Garcia's radar.

"What have you lovely ladies been up to that has you so happy and giggly this early in the morning?" The tech analyst asked innocently, subtly scrutinizing them as the two women in question exchanged and look and simply chuckled more.

Sensing that if an answer wasn't given soon, Penelope would begin her usual relentless way of pulling information from them, Emily spoke up. "Nothing, we just stopped to get some coffee."

"Prentiss, I know I sometimes don't get your particular brand of humor but what could possibly be funny about getting a cup of coffee?" Morgan asked, having been whispering quietly with Penelope before the two women walked in.

Once again, the two women looked at one another, silently communicating to each other through nothing more than a few looks and a quirk of their lips.

It was something that did not go unnoticed by Derek or Penelope, but it was Penelope who narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the two women. Looking at the pair, it was clear that something had shifted since their bout on the dance floor and Penelope was curious as to what exactly that was.

Of course, this new change in tide also meant that her plans had to once again be altered, something that she was thoroughly enjoying but also completely annoyed with. At first she had believed that Emily would be the predictable one in the relationship, the profiler having proved time and time again that her comfort zone was a place she preferred to be _in_ rather than _out_ of. JJ was usually the opposite; while the media liaison was content to linger in familiarity, she almost always jumped at the chance to try something new or step out of her comfort zone and experience something new.

But seeing the two women together and how they had been interacting thus far, it seemed that when they were in a relationship their roles reversed. Which she supposed wasn't rare or uncommon, but it was certainly a game changer.

Penelope couldn't lie and pretend like seeing Emily take the reins in things and effortlessly slip into the role of 'girlfriend' didn't shock her, because she was, very much so. And JJ, the one the tech analyst had been willing to bet money on as the one to have the least amount of trouble being Emily's girlfriend, especially after seeing how easily she had agreed to the bet, had thrown her for yet another loop. Much to Penelope's surprise, it turned out that JJ had been the easier of the two to rattle while Emily was the harder one.

And now, after only a day, they seemed different. It was almost as though the two had somehow strengthened their relationship in the span of one day, and that was something that Garcia found increasingly fascinating and mindboggling. JJ, who had seemed somewhat skittish the night before, especially when she realized just how close her and Emily had been getting on the dance floor, now seemed strangely comfortable in the profilers presence.

"What are you two planning on doing tonight?" Penelope asked, working hard to main an image of innocence and underplayed disinterest as she leaned against Morgan's desk and tried to keep her intended meddling to a minimum.

Emily shrugged, looking at JJ in question, "I didn't have anything planned for tonight, I thought we would just stay in and relax."

JJ mimicked Emily's behavior, not having planned anything for them either. After their somewhat emotion and activity filled weekend, the blonde had been planning on taking things easy. "Yeah, I hadn't really planned on doing anything either. We were out late last night and I'm not really up for doing anything to strenuous."

Before Emily could say anything to stop the obvious sexual joke or innuendo either Garcia or Morgan were no doubt about to say, she was too late. "Guess that means you're not getting any tonight, Prentiss," Morgan boomed, his eyebrows waggling suggestively as he tried to stop his rumbling chuckles.

Beside him, Penelope covered her mouth with her hand, feebly attempting to stem her cackles of delight at the joke.

The raven haired profiler let out a low and suffering sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose as she shook her head slowly, "You two are absolutely perfect for one another," she grumbled lightly.

JJ cracked a smile, knowing that the duo would always twist simple words into something sexual and also knowing that it was impossible to stop them from doing it. It would have been like asking Garcia to stop being nosy — it just wasn't going to happen; and if by some chance it did happen, either the world was about to end or something was terribly wrong.

"Yeah, you two kind of are," JJ said after a moment, glancing between the profiler and the tech analyst, wondering why the two hadn't gotten together sooner.

"Well, to be fair, I'm pretty much perfect for all ladies," Morgan said smugly, his chest puffing out and his biceps flexing as he tried to show just why he was irresistible to all women.

Penelope glanced at Morgan, her eyes drawn to his bulging muscles as she stared appreciatively at him, never one to pass up a chance to gawk at the obvious eye candy. "And I'm perfect for everybody." Garcia finally muttered, reluctantly drawing her eyes away from the man beside her.

Morgan nodded in agreement before realizing what his temporary girlfriend had just said and instantly turned to her in shock. "Everybody?" He squeaked, wondering how he hadn't known that tidbit of information sooner.

"Yeah, everybody," she repeated, only Morgan continuing to show his absolute shock at the revelation. "I don't discriminate against interested parties," she said simply, acting as though he were the weird one for not sharing her dating tendencies.

"How did I not know this?" He asked loudly, his hands dramatically flying into the air as he tried to wrap his head around the concept of the tech analyst playing both sides of the field. "Why did you not tell me this?" Morgan asked urgently, resisting the urge to shake the woman for not divulging what he believed to be very important information.

Penelope, finding his reaction to be one of the most humorous things imaginable, simply shrugged her shoulders and gazed impassively at him. The action resulted in Morgan's obvious bewilderment, his hands emphatically gesturing in the air as he floundered for a response to the lackadaisical attitude Penelope was employing.

"What's going on?" An unsuspecting Reid asked, having seen Morgan's hand waving and everyone else's clearly amused expressions at his behavior.

"Apparently, Morgan didn't know Penelope was bisexual." Emily stated matter-of-factly,

"You didn't know?" Reid asked simply, unknowingly increasing Morgan's plight.

"Boy wonder knew before _I_ did?" Morgan shouted before glaring at his supposed girlfriend. "What the hell Penelope." Instead of sounding angry or hurt it just sounded whiny and petulant, something that made the three women surrounding him instantly stifle their laughter.

After making sure she wouldn't laugh again, Penelope stepped closer to Morgan, "I'm sorry, handsome," she said soothingly. "I honestly thought you knew," the tech analyst said simply, the hidden smile on her face belying the sincerity of the apology.

"Are you upset because you she didn't tell you or because of what you've been missing out on?" Emily asked with interest, her question drawing all eyes towards Morgan as they waited expectantly for his answer.

"Both?" He replied, the answer coming out as a question as he tried to keep from falling into the verbal trap. Somehow it felt like there was no right answer to that question, no matter _how_ open Penelope was about sex and dating.

"Maybe try not looking like you're imagining about twenty different lascivious scenarios when you say that," JJ said pointedly, having seen that look on Morgan's face far too many times to count. It was the look that meant his mind was officially in the gutter; a place that his and Penelope's minds seemed to frequent on a regular basis.

"She's got a point," Emily added, watching with unrestrained humor as he attempted to school his features and failing miserably. "You're grinning like a loon and it's pretty obvious that it's not because you're happy that Garcia's happy."

"You guys are crazy," Morgan objected vehemently, his arms folding across his chest, "I am _not_ picturing anything like that, I'm just happy that we're in a time where people can be out and proud."

Reid, having been watching the entire exchange, stepped forward and stared Morgan right in the eye, blatantly invading the other man's personal space, before pursing his lips in thought. "Your pupils are dilated."

"So? It's kinda bright in here," Morgan rebutted, easily dismissing the comment as just another odd observation from Reid.

"If your pupils were constricted, then that would be a plausible reasoning but they're dilated." Spencer commented, once again invading Morgan's personal space as he stared at the other man, their noses so close they were almost touching. "The human eyes actually dilate for a handful of reasons, some of the more common ones being drug use, emotional state, brain function and even sexual arousal."

"That's for the medical lesson, Reid, but what does that have to do with me?" Morgan asked, not bothering to hide his growing annoyance with the topic at hand.

"Well, based on the content of your previous conversation, the slight flush to your cheeks and the dilation of your pupils it's easy to see how JJ could have come to the conclusion that the knowledge of Penelope's sexual orientation would have caused you to fantasize or otherwise become sexually aroused."

Had it not been so clinically said and with such a seriousness that only Reid seemed to have mastered, all three women in the room would have burst into laughter. The look of mortification and embarrassment that seemed to overtake Morgan's face was priceless, his mouth opening and closing as he floundered and tried to come up with something to say.

Luckily for the profiler though, the fates seemed to have taken mercy on him as the sound of the elevator doors opening sounded and a man in jeans and a wrinkled t-shirt strolled onto the floor with a bouquet of red roses in his arms.

The women on the floor exchanged glances, easily figuring that the flowers would be for them, but not entirely sure which one of them was the recipient.

"Is there an," the man started to ask, deftly pulling the sealed envelope from the flowers and glancing at the name, "Emily Prentiss here?"

Eyes widening in surprise, Emily raised her hand, her face covered in shock at the prospect of receiving such a large arrangement of flowers at work. "That's me," she finally muttered, watching as he stuffed the envelope back into place and gingerly handed over the flowers before turning on his heel and leaving.

"You got flowers?" JJ asked curiously, eyeing the bouquet before snapping her attention towards the profiler holding them.

"Does someone have a secret admirer?" Penelope hedged, her smile growing as she tried to get an answer just by reading Emily's still surprised expression.

"I don't think so?" Emily said in question, not having interacted with anyone other than her coworkers and knowing that she hadn't had any romantic prospects in a _long_ while.

"Who would be sending _Prentiss_ flowers?" Morgan asked, stressing Emily's last name for added emphasis.

It was that exaggerated shock and emphasis on her name that snapped Emily right out of her stupor and had the profiler giving her friend a dark look, clearly offended by the implications of his question. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Skilled in the art of reading people, Morgan quickly picked up on the shift in the atmosphere, noticing that not only was Emily pissed at his comment but now he was getting daggers shot at him from Penelope and JJ as well. Though, from the looks of it, JJ seemed to be angrier than Penelope, clearly annoyed at the way his jest had made her girlfriend's mood damper. Something he found incredibly interesting and equally frightening if JJ's fiery blues eyes were anything to go by.

"Well–" he stammered, knowing he was more than likely going to put his foot in his mouth for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. "It's just that–" His eyes darted around the room, moving from person to person, seeing their angry and expectant expressions and knowing there was little he could do to dig himself out of the hole he stood in, "Prentiss doesn't usually get flowers. It was just a little surprising I guess," he finished lamely, going over his words to see if they could be misconstrued in any way.

JJ narrowed her eyes, obviously not pleased with the answer but not willing or interested in pushing the subject any further.

"So, who are they from?" Penelope asked, just after giving Derek a loaded look, something the man knew wouldn't be good and would be brought up when the two were alone.

Emily's stormy and contemplative expression slackened, her focus now directed once again on the flowers that remained in her hands. With a hesitancy that she didn't usually have, Emily reached into the arrangement and pulled out the small ivory envelope, delicately opening it and pulling out the card from within.

Slowly, she opened the card, a reluctant smile tugging at her lips as she read the single line written down inside and the neatly scrawled and very familiar name beneath it.

"So?" Penelope asked, holding onto the desk tightly as she resisted the urge to lunge forward, yank the card from Emily's grasp and read every word written on it.

"Yeah, who's it from?" JJ asked, the corner of her lip curling upward despite the curious look she was sporting.

Noticing the sparkle in JJ's eyes, Emily couldn't resist shaking her head in mirth, her smile blossoming as she pointed a finger towards the blonde.

Penelope and Derek both followed Emily's pointed finger, as though it was impossible to believe that JJ would be the one to have sent the profiler a bouquet of roses.

"JJ sent them?" Both people asked, Penelope sounding surprised and giddy at the prospect while Derek just sounded confused.

"Unless I know another Jennifer, which I don't, then yes." Emily answered, gnawing her lip to keep from laughing at how shocked the other two people in the room looked. It was highly entertaining to see them looking so surprised to see JJ actually acting the part of girlfriend and sending flowers.

Garcia snapped out of it first, her fingers already outstretching and making a grab for the note, which Emily easily pulled back and stuffed into the back pocket of her jeans.

"Nu-uh," Emily tsked, her finger waggling tauntingly in front of Garcia, her mysterious and teasing smile only making the tech analyst try harder to grab the note.

Penelope moved closer to the profiler, her arm wrapping around Emily's waist as her fingers tried desperately to grab hold of the piece of paper.

"Uh, Pen," JJ spoke up after a moment, wondering why Garcia was so interested in the note. Penelope was nosey, that was a given, but she was never _that_ anxious to read something, especially when it came to Emily. It seemed like standard practice to give the profiler her space when she was reluctant to open up or share things, otherwise there was a chance someone would get their head bitten off or end up iced out until she let go of her grudge. "Why are you groping my girlfriend?"

Almost immediately Penelope's hands froze where they were, which incidentally, was on Emily's butt and halfway into her pocket. As though burned, her hand shot out of the profiler's pants as she stumbled backwards. "I wasn't groping her," Penelope defended, shaking her hand fiercely as if she were ridding herself of any pieces of Emily that had stuck to her, "I was trying to get the card."

JJ sidled up to Emily, slowly and deliberately reaching into Emily's back pocket and pulling out the card, relishing in the almost scandalized look on Penelope's face. "You mean _this_ card?" She asked innocently, batting her eyelashes and perusing the words written on the piece of paper.

Penelope narrowed her eyes at the action, torn between being thrilled by the new development and petulant at not having seen anticipated it. "Yes, _that_ card."

"Sorry, it's personal," the blonde gleefully said, finding it oddly thrilling to mess with Penelope. Though a part of her knew that by the time the bet was over she would no doubt end up paying for the way she was acting, JJ figured that it was only fair, especially after the way Penelope had acted when they went dancing.

"Yeah, personal," Emily mimicked, plucking the card from between JJ's fingers and slipping back into her back pocket. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with our wonderfully enchanting media liaison."

Without another word, Emily grabbed JJ by the elbow and pulled her towards the media liaison's office, pointedly ignoring the questions that were being flung rapidly at her by not only Penelope but Morgan as well.

When the door was closed, Emily pulled the card out and waved it in the air, "Care to explain _this_ and the bouquet of roses, Miss Jareau?"

Smiling at the suddenly playful attitude, JJ smirked, dropping into her seat and giving the profiler a mysterious and taunting look. "Well, I couldn't exactly let you keep showing me up. I have to show that I'm worthy of being a Prentiss's girlfriend, I figure sending flowers with a note was a good start."

Laughing at the sentiment, Emily took a seat across from JJ, crossing her legs and leaning back in her chair, more than interested in finding out just what else the blonde was willing to show to prove her 'worthiness.'

* * *

As soon as the two women disappeared into JJ's office, Penelope was pushing off the desk and sprinting towards her office, moving faster than she had ever moved before.

Her feet slid across the sleek floor as she rounded the corner and rushed into her office, immediately darting behind her desk and typing away on her keyboard. She didn't even bother to check if Morgan was following or not, more interested in hacking into the surveillance camera in JJ's office and watching the live feed than seeing if her partner in crime was present.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Penelope said to no one in particular, the video feed from the media liaison's office suddenly popping up on the main screen.

Penelope's eyes narrowed with interest as she tuned in the audio, almost too giddy with delight at being the proverbial fly on the wall for their conversation.

Her eyes immediately trained on the sitting figures of Emily and JJ, seeing the twin smiles on their faces and the way both women looked to be enjoying themselves despite the fact that no one had spoken yet.

"Does this mean you're going to try and one up me, Jennifer?" Penelope heard Emily say, a huskiness to her voice that caused JJ's blue eyes to glaze over and her fingers to run anxiously through her long blonde locks. Of course, Penelope couldn't really blame JJ for her current bout of silence considering Emily's voice had even sent a shiver running up _her_ spine.

Garcia had known that Emily had a certain _allure_ to her; the deep brown mysterious and guarded eyes, the regal manner in which she carried herself, almost as though she didn't care what _anyone_ thought of her, which to an extent was true. She had just the right amount of aloofness to make men and women alike flock to her, the need to peel back the layers and reveal the inner workings making her like catnip to both sexes.

But Garcia figured it was the obvious distance, emotionally, she put between herself and others that made their interest in her all that much more amplified. After all, there was a reason why movies always portrayed the mysterious and guarded male as the more desired person, it was human nature and curiosity that drove people to want to be the one that got them to open up; the raven haired profiler definitely had that going for her.

And had Emily shown an interest in women prior to the bet, Garcia had no doubt that the profiler would have had _far_ more interested parties than the few men she had managed to snag over the duration of her stay with the BAU.

Now, though, actually _seeing_ Emily in action, Garcia had to admit that her assessment of the allure that Emily possessed was _far_ off base. The way she turned JJ to putty with nothing more than a dance, albeit a rather erotic one but a dance nonetheless, and the way she spoke to the blonde, as though she were caressing her words with nothing more than her tone, made her that much more appealing.

"Do you _want_ me to one up you, Emily?" Garcia heard JJ asked, obviously giving as well as she got if the intonation in her voice was anything to go by.

And just like that, Garcia's previous assumptions of JJ were thrown out the window as well. It was no shocker that JJ's tastes, date wise and interest wise, were pretty eclectic. She was a man's dream girl personified. She liked her sports, drank beer, thrived in a group setting and would have had no problem getting along with any guy friends her boyfriend would have introduced her to.

But in addition to that, she was also quite feminine. She liked hanging out with the girls, she enjoyed drinking wine just as much as she did beer, for all the sports she enjoyed she wasn't adverse to the idea of dancing, seeing plays and musicals or even attending upscale events. There were few environments or situations where JJ _didn't_ flourish or shine.

Add to that the long blonde hair, the deep blue eyes and the sun-kissed skin and she was basically the embodiment and definition of an all-American girl.

Penelope's initial thoughts on JJ, while initially correct, didn't factor in the way the blonde interacted with Emily when the two believed there were no prying eyes. There was a sense of ease and playfulness that the media liaison seemed to be exuding, a state of comfort that she hadn't imagined JJ would be able to achieve without a little pushing.

It was no wonder her meddling hadn't been very successful, she had grossly underestimated the other two women. Individually, they were one thing, but together, it seemed all that harder to get an accurate read on them.

This, more than anything else, proved she needed to reassess her tactics.

Nodding in silent promise, Garcia redirected her attention towards the screen and continued to study the other two women.

"Is that an official offer," Emily asked flirtatiously.

JJ leaned forward in her seat, her eyes sparkling with delight at the banter, her chin resting on her folded hands, "It could be," she responded easily, seemingly unaffected by the easy going flirting they were doing.

"Well then," the profiler said, rising from her seat and smiling mischievously, "game on, Jennifer." The profiler drawled, dragging out JJ's name.

Garcia kept her eyes glued to the screen, finding her office getting increasingly hotter as she listened to the two women speak and watched the looks they shot one another. It was enrapturing and equally off-putting to watch them, solely because it made her feel as though she were watching something far more intimate than simply flirtatious banter.

Penelope's eyes widened as she leaned closer to the screen, observing as Emily strolled towards JJ with a swagger that only the profiler could possess, and leaned in close, her lips just barely grazing the blonde's ear.

She couldn't hear what the profiler was saying, something that frustrated her to no end, but from the way JJ's cheeks flamed and her eyes seemed to flutter for a moment, she had a feeling it was something good.

Emily pulled away slowly, a lazy grin on her face as she leaned her hip on the blonde's desk, "Sound good?"

Nodding dumbly, JJ stared at the raven haired woman, her lips parted and her hand once again running anxiously through her hair.

"Y-yeah, it's a date." Jennifer finally muttered, seeming to snap out of her daze.

"Can't wait," Emily responded, an excited smile on her face the likes of which Penelope nor JJ had ever seen before.

Just as Penelope was about to go back to work and disconnect from the camera feed in JJ's office, she saw Emily start to pull away and walk towards the door. Just as the profiler pushed off the desk and turned, JJ's hand shot out and grabbed Emily's wrist firmly.

The tech analyst's screen flickered to its normal display just as JJ rose from her seat, tugged the profiler towards her and planted a kiss firmly and soundly upon Emily's unsuspecting lips.

Penelope furiously typed away at her keyboard, hurriedly trying to bring the feed back up to see the juicy interaction but knowing she was too late. In her haste, her fingers fumbled as they flew across the keys, uncharacteristically mistyping the codes needed to access the camera footage.

Left with only the image of JJ moving to sit behind her desk, she screamed in outrage and desperation, knowing she had missed what was most likely the juiciest part of their interaction. "No!"

* * *

Standing stock still in JJ's office, Emily stared wonderingly at the blonde before her, in a bit of a daze over the impromptu kiss and the forcefulness she had just witnessed.

She hadn't exactly imagined JJ initiating a kiss like that, at least not that soon seeing as how it seemed like the blonde was still acclimating to their new relationship, but apparently she was wrong. And wonderfully so.

"What was that for?" Emily asked slowly, only then registering the warmth that seemed to flood her body.

JJ shrugged, a lazy smile on her face as her thumb stroked over Emily's wrist, idly noting that the profiler's pulse was raised. "A thanks for last night and for our upcoming date," the blonde answered, realizing that now she had let go of all her reservations, she found it rather easy to be affectionate with Emily.

"I thought the roses were your way of thanking me for last night?" Emily questioned, more than a little distracted by the sensation of JJ's thumb caressing the sensitive skin on her wrist.

"An arrangement of flowers didn't quite feel like enough," the blonde whispered, leaning closer to the profiler as they shared another languid kiss.

This time Emily was the one to nod dumbly, her brain feeling as though it had temporarily short circuited. She wasn't used to JJ being the bold one but it was definitely something she could get used to.

Before the raven haired woman could get her brain and mouth to reestablish their obviously severed connection, JJ was taking charge yet again and ushering the profiler towards the door.

"Now that we've sorted all that out, I believe you have a stack of case files on your desk that need to be finished by the end of the day."

"Uh, right, case files," Emily blabbered, only managing to recover a sliver of decorum as she made her way out the door.

"Oh, and Emily?" JJ spoke up, stopping the profiler just as she was crossing the threshold of the doorway.

"Yeah?" she responded, the fog in her brain clearing up as more distance was put between the two of them.

"I'm looking forward to our date tomorrow." All sense of flirting was absent from the comment, only her excitement and sincerity shining through as she locked eyes with Emily.

"Me too," Emily responded, her tone matching JJ's as she uttered the two simple words.

"_NO!_" both women heard, the shout echoing throughout the floor, effectively snapping them out of their moment.

"What the heck was that?" Emily asked, her eyes scanning the BAU floor for any indication of who might have screamed.

"I have no idea," JJ said slowly, her eyes also roaming the area for the source. "But it kind of sounded like Pen," she said thoughtfully but quickly dismissed it, doubting the infallible tech analyst would have shouted like that.

"Oh well," Emily muttered, turning her attention back towards JJ, "I'll see you later."

"See ya," JJ responded, watching as Emily offered a small smile before walking down the steps and towards her desk.

With nothing more to distract her, the media liaison closed her door and made her way back towards her desk, more than ready to finish her work and end the work day.

* * *

As Emily walked over to her desk, she was met with Derek's expectant and excited stare, obviously wanting to know not only about her flowers but what had transpired in JJ's office. It was moments like these that his similarities with Penelope became even more apparent.

"What can I do for you, Derek?" Emily asked, knowing that if she didn't ask he would continue to stare at her until she offered up the juicy details.

"Don't act like you don't know why I'm staring, Prentiss," Derek said sternly, his ever present smile making Emily want to roll her eyes in exasperation.

"You know, you're almost as bad Garcia when it comes to the intrusive questions and meddling." She commented, noticing the way his eyes widened just a fraction before they narrowed.

"I'm no where even _close_ to being as nosey as Baby Girl and you know it." He said petulantly, his lower lip jutting out as he stared defiantly at the other profiler. "And if you keep treating me like this, I'll have no choice but replace you as my wingman and confidant; I'm sure Pen would be more than willing to take over."

Nonplussed by the threat, Emily simply shrugged and opened one of the folders on her desk, "You wouldn't last a day with Penelope as your confidant _or_ wingman. Not only would she meddle but she would probably start stealing your dates."

Scandalized by the thought, Morgan recoiled, "Baby Girl would _never_ do that," he defended vehemently.

Emily, wanting nothing more than to mess with his head, sighed in sympathy at him. "Oh, Morgan, do you honestly believe that?"

Morgan started to nod before his head suddenly stopped and his body leaned towards Emily. "Why wouldn't I? Me and Baby Girl are tight like that."

"You heard her," she said simply, "she's not only open to male but _female_ attention, so why wouldn't she try to reel them in for herself?"

Not giving in easily to the seeds of doubt Emily was trying to plant, Morgan shook his head and crossed his arms. "Me and Pen are too tight to be broken up by the prospect of her stealing a few of my dates. Besides, her sexuality is a good thing, not a bad thing. Means more ladies for the both of us."

"You say that now," Emily said conspiratorially, a hint of knowledge in her voice, "but you'll be singing a different tune soon enough."

While Morgan thought that over, Emily refocused her attention towards her work, "And if you're so confident in her, then why didn't she tell you about her dating preferences sooner? Had it not come up accidentally today, who knows how long it would have been before she said something about it."

Silenced by the words, Derek sat still, staring blankly at his stack of case files, the seed of doubt having successfully been planted.

"I mean, what kind of friend, let alone _girlfriend_, doesn't tell someone something as important as that?" Emily continued, keeping her focus on her work as she spoke. "I know I would be pissed if someone that close to me had told everyone else but me; there's no telling what else they're keeping." Slyly looking at Morgan's contemplative expression, Emily resisted the urge to laugh at how easy it was to rattle his cage, "But I'm sure you and Pen are close enough to not even care about stuff like that. I mean, what other secrets could she possibly be keeping from you? You two have known each other for so long that secrets are pretty much nonexistent. Like you said, you two are tight."

"Yeah, right," Morgan said distractedly, his eyes distant as he mulled over the web Emily was weaving.

Sensing she had successfully turned the tables, Emily resisted the urge to cackle in delight and instead silently hoped the temporary rift in Morgan and Garcia's relationship would keep the two from messing with her and JJ.

It was a lot to hope for but she knew Penelope and Morgan were up to no good and if she needed o play dirty to win this bet, she would do it. Especially since she had a date with JJ tomorrow and had no intention of letting the meddling duo ruin it or mess it up.

Emily was looking forward to it too much and had pulled too many strings to have it ruined by a sudden bout of hesitancy spurred on by Garcia's comments or Morgan's jokes. Quite honestly, Emily was sure that by the time their date was over she would have JJ so confident in their relationship that nothing the other two could say would drive a wedge between them.

Plus, it was the first date in a long while that Emily was actually excited about and looking forward to.

* * *

**_The first date had finally arrived and will be in the next chapter.  
Once again, thanks to everyone who has been following along and reviewing, it means a lot to know you're enjoying the story as much as I am. :)_**


	6. Have I Wooed You Yet?

Walking into the BAU with a garment bag swung over her shoulder and two coffees in her hand, Emily barely made it to her desk before JJ was walking down the steps of her office and making her way over to the profiler.

Smirking to herself, Emily set down her own coffee and extended the other out towards the approaching blonde. "Coffee?" She asked, already knowing that it would be a resounding yes.

"Thanks," JJ responded appreciatively, taking an eager sip of the caffeinated beverage. When she was done savoring the taste, she turned her blue eyes towards Emily, a playful smile on her face, "Where'd you disappear to this morning? I got up and you were already gone." The question was said casually but Emily didn't need to be a profiler to see or hear the curiosity that tinged the words.

Emily did her best to keep her features schooled, only a mischievous smirk on display as she leaned against her desk. "I had to run a few errands and I didn't think you'd want to give up any of your precious sleep to get up and do them with me," the profiler teased, having been on the receiving end of a sleepless and grumpy Jennifer Jareau more times than she'd like to count. If JJ without her coffee was downright scary then JJ running on only a few hours of sleep or getting her sleep interrupted was only a slightly less frightening. Either way, the blonde was not someone who enjoyed having her coffee or sleep messed with so there was no way Emily was going to risk her livelihood by waking the media liaison any earlier than necessary.

"I would have gone with," JJ stated earnestly, looking like she was torn between being hurt that Emily hadn't brought her with and pleased that the profiler had been thoughtful enough to give her a few extra hours of sleep.

Emily chose not to dwell on the hurt look in JJ's eyes, knowing that it would have been a _very _different story if she had actually woken her. "Jen, the last time I woke you up before the alarm went off, you growled at me, said a few curse words that I hadn't even _heard_ _of_ and then gave me double my usual case load for the entire week." She looked at the blonde in amusement, remembering very clearly how long it had taken her to finish her work, not to mention the dirty looks she had received throughout the day in question.

"I wasn't _that_ bad," JJ said quickly, thinking Emily was exaggerating the events a bit. Sure, she remembered being a little ticked off that she had been woken hours earlier than necessary and okay, she might have given Emily the evil eye throughout the day, but it wasn't like she stabbed her or anything. She just liked her sleep and Emily should have known better than to wake her for no good reason. "And you kind of deserved it since you woke me up for no reason," she added after a second, voicing her last thought aloud.

"I didn't do it on _purpose_," Emily defended, her arms crossing dramatically over her chest as she stared challengingly at the blonde. "I tripped over the mess in your guest room so it's your own fault." And 'mess' was a gross understatement of what that room looked like. It had taken Emily nearly ten minutes to make her way through the 'organized clutter' to the bed and even then, she was pretty sure she would have needed an exploration team to come in and find her the next morning.

"It's not that bad." JJ shook her head in disapproval, wondering why no one else understood that she navigated the organized chaos just fine. She had a system and it worked wonderfully for her, but it seemed that no matter how many times she tried to convince the others of that, they just looked at her like she was crazy. "You're just a klutz."

Emily's eyes widened at the accusation, her mouth dropping open slightly as she stared at the other woman, clearly affronted. "I am _not_ a klutz." She denied fiercely, acting as though JJ had called her something much worse than simply being clumsy. "I'll have you know that I've been told I have a grace unlike any other," she responded haughtily, not even bothering to hide her slightly arrogant attitude.

Looking at the smug look on Emily's face, JJ couldn't help but laugh at her, trying to imagine a scenario where that compliment _didn't_ sound corny. Unfortunately for Emily, she couldn't come up with one and that only served to make her laugh harder.

Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, the media liaison let her laughter die down as she gingerly pat the other woman's shoulder, her tone mocking and sarcastic, "I'm sure they're right, your grace is just astounding."

Emily fought to keep the smile from her face at the comment combined with the dry tone accompanying it, choosing instead to narrow her eyes at the other woman, "You didn't seem to be complaining when we were dancing a few nights ago," she said lightly, easily brushing off JJ's hand and turning her attention towards the garment bag that lay forgotten on her chair.

Without waiting for a rebuttal from the blonde, she slung the bag over her shoulder again and made her way up to the media liaison's office.

Just remembering that night caused JJ's cheeks to turn pink, her eyes widening slightly and her stomach flip-flopping as she remembered exactly just how graceful Emily's moves had been. If she hadn't been a momentary state of delirium, JJ would have been annoyed and a little pissed that Emily could so easily reduce her to a sputtering and blushing mess with just a few simple words.

Sure, she had reduced Emily to a stuttering fool the day before with nothing more than a kiss, but with Emily, it seemed like it was an effortless action on her part. JJ supposed it was part of the elusive Prentiss charm that made profiler so swoon worthy at times.

Standing there, trying to reign in the traitorous blush that seemed to be spreading from her cheeks, to her ears and down her neck, she barely registered that Emily had returned and was now without the garment bag she had been holding just moments ago.

"Get your mind stuck in the gutter again, Jennifer?" Emily practically purred, the delight in seeing JJ come undone made startlingly clear as she grinned widely at the other woman.

JJ shook her head, shaking the lustful thoughts and memories from her mind, "My mind is never in the gutter," she stubbornly denied.

Emily's thumb stroked over her still heated cheek, a confident smile etched onto her face as she did so, finding it endlessly humorous and fun to rile the blonde up. For someone who seemed to be a free spirit most of the time, Emily was finding JJ to be increasingly adorable the way she blushed so easily and became flustered over what the profiler would consider to be fairly innocent remarks.

Making sure her eyes were smoldering and her voice huskier than usual, Emily's thumb swiped over the flushed cheek one last time before her smile transformed into its previous cocky grin, "That's a shame Jen," she muttered in disappointment, the gleeful and downright impish look flitting across her face completely contradicting her words, "because lately, my mind has been spending quite a bit of time in the gutter."

The false comment wouldn't have been nearly as rewarding had she not witnessed the tiniest of flutters from JJ's eyes or the way those crystal clear ocean blue eyes seemed to darken about five shades, that wasn't even mentioning the way her breath hitched and her grip on her coffee tightened just a fraction.

Honestly, Emily wasn't even sure JJ was _trying_ anymore. Either the blonde was incredibly susceptible to her wiles or the profiler had more of an influence than she had originally thought, but either way, it didn't bode well for JJ.

Messing with her was just too much fun.

"You wh-what?" JJ stammered, her eyes wide in disbelief as she tried to discern whether or not she had heard the other woman correctly or not.

Emily brought her coffee to her lips and tried to use the object to hide her small chuckles, unable to completely hide her humor at the situation and flabbergasted media liaison. "I'm just kidding Jen," Emily teased before taking a sip of her drink.

The profiler waited until the blonde's shoulders relaxed and she let out a slow exhale of relief and just as JJ went to take a sip of her own coffee, Emily made a show of tilting her head in thought and quickly added, "My mind has _always_ been in the gutter where you're concerned." The words fell from her lips rather easily, her brown eyes sparkling with mirth and appetency.

JJ, not expecting that comment and especially not expecting the look that was being directed towards her, quickly swallowed the coffee that she had just sipped, immediately falling into a coughing fit as the liquid went down the wrong pipe.

As she coughed and tried to regain her breath, Emily's hand found its way to her back and gave gentle pats in an attempts to clear her airways. "You okay?" The profiler asked as soon as the coughing had stopped, all signs of humor and, what JJ had briefly believed to be desire, gone from her brown eyes and replaced with nothing but genuine concern.

"Thanks," JJ croaked, "I'm fine."

Nodding slowly, Emily decided enough fun at JJ's expense had been had and quickly took a step back, giving the other woman some much needed space.

While it was fun to mess with JJ and throw a few innuendos towards her, it was best not to push too much or too hard, especially since it was clear JJ was still acclimating to things. That's not to say the media liaison hadn't been comfortable with a few displays of affection or attempting the odd kiss or two, but Emily could tell she was still just a bit skittish and figured it was best not to push her luck.

It was that little remainder of hesitancy that made her want to have their date this soon into the bet; she had hoped that if she got JJ to see how easy things were when they weren't really trying and just went with the flow of things, then the last vestiges of hesitancy would just fall away.

"So, I've got a stack of case files to do so I'll talk to you later," Emily said quickly, her smile easy and relaxed as she looked at the ruffled blonde.

"Uh, right— I'll just head up to my office," JJ responded, unnecessarily hiking her thumb towards her office before abruptly turning around and walking away.

Emily didn't offer a response, opting instead to focus her attention on her work, wanting to have it all finished by the time the day was over.

* * *

JJ walked towards her office on wobbly knees, finding herself becoming more and more affected by Emily's words and tone. It was odd to be fine with their banter and flirtatious jibes one second and then the next she was left feeling like a pining and lovesick teenager. One look from Emily, one genuine smile or even a laugh that brightened her dark brown eyes and suddenly her heart was beating in her chest faster than a hummingbird could flap its wings, her stomach flip-flopped and her whole body felt like it was lighter than air.

It was equal parts embarrassing and joyous to know that someone could illicit that kind of reaction from her, especially since it had been so long since she had felt that way. But she had agreed to go with the flow of things and since the feelings Emily evoked in her weren't a bad thing — just the opposite, actually — the blonde figured she would just stop thinking about it and let herself experience the refreshing emotions and sensations that occurred.

Of course that didn't mean that she wouldn't continue to blush in embarrassment or get riled up when Emily made a particularly bold comment, but that just meant she needed to step up her own game and make Emily just a nervous and anxious as the profiler made _her_ feel. It seemed only fair.

* * *

As the day wore on, JJ seemed to keep herself holed up in her office, leaving Emily to field the many questions and inquiries about their budding relationship. It seemed Morgan and Garcia were growing more and more curious and Emily wasn't sure whether to find their nosiness entertaining or just plain sad.

It continued to give the profiler pause, wondering why the other couple wasn't more involved in their own relationship. Shouldn't they have been more focused on one another rather than her and JJ, especially considering they were still in the bet too?

"Shouldn't you guys be planning your _own_ date instead of trying to suss out mine?" Emily asked after what had to be the fifteen question from Penelope. "And don't you have work to do? How is it that you can spend nearly eighty percent of your day by our desks and still get your work done on time?" The profiler added as an afterthought, staring curiously at the tech analyst who seemed to have absolutely nothing better to do.

"I work with computers all day, Sweetie," Garcia said slowly, as though she were talking to a child who couldn't quite grasp the concept of technology, "which means I can make a program that will do my work _for_ me."

"You mean there's a program that can do all of this paperwork _for me_ and you haven't told me about it sooner?" Morgan griped, tossing his pen dramatically onto his desk and directing his full attention towards his bubbly girlfriend.

"No, I didn't say that," Penelope responded quickly, "I said there was a program that could do _my_ work, not yours. Profiling is too complex and has too many nuances for a computer program to accurately provide a profile." Then, as an afterthought, she pinched Morgan's cheek and smiled widely at him, "That's best left to the professionals."

"You know it Babygirl," Morgan responded cockily, clearly never growing tired of having his ego stroked or the endless string of compliments Garcia threw at him.

Emily couldn't help but be thankful she didn't end up with Penelope for this bet; not only was it hard to imagine being in a relationship with someone that carefree but she could only imagine the many ways Penelope could manipulate a person without them ever even knowing.

The thought alone made her shiver in fear.

"So, back to the topic at hand, what do you and our beautiful media liaison have planned for your big date tonight?" Garcia asked nosily, leaning forward from where she sat perched upon Derek's desk, leaning in as though she were about to hear one of the juiciest secrets.

"How did you even find out about that?" Emily asked, half her attention on Garcia and the other half focused on the case file before her.

"Please," Garcia responded breezily, as though the prospect of her getting information was as easy as breathing — which was technically true. The number of things Garcia could find on a person was both frightening and astounding.

Emily lifted her gaze from her work and simply raised her eyebrow in challenge before a small laugh tumbled from her lips and her attention was once again refocused on her work. "JJ told you," she stated more than asked, already knowing there were nothing those two didn't talk about or share.

"Yup," Penelope responded giddily, starting to bounce in excitement at getting details on their impending outing. "So, tell me what you have planned."

Emily didn't look at the other woman, her hand continued to scribble down notes as she mulled over the thought of divulging the details of their quickly approaching date. The profiler finished that particular case file, dropped her pen loudly on the desk and swiveled dramatically in her chair and faced the excited tech analyst. "Well…"

Penelope leaned forward just a fraction more, Derek also starting to lean closer. "Yeah?" Garcia asked with unrestrained interest, her eyes wide and her hands gripping the sides of the desk tightly in anticipation.

Emily made a show of looking around to check if JJ was around, a wide smile blossoming on her face as she scooted closer to the duo and tried to build the dramatic suspense she was creating. Slowly, she moved closer to Penelope and made to whisper in her ear, which Garcia quickly caught on to and leant her ear to the other woman.

"I'm not going to tell you, Penelope," the raven haired woman whispered before quickly pulling away, scooting back to her desk and opening up another case file.

"What'd she say?" Morgan asked, unaware of what Emily had whispered in Penelope's ear. "Is it something good? It's probably dinner at a fancy restaurant, right?"

Penelope huffed, not liking that she was out of the loop for once; she hated being out of the loop. "No," she said hastily to the man beside her, the furrow to her eyebrows a clear indicator that no more questions she be asked.

"And I wouldn't take JJ to a fancy restaurant for my one date," Emily added as she scrawled down her notes, only a little peeved that Morgan would expect such a blasé date idea.

"So I take it no dinner and a movie either?" Morgan asked cheekily, purposely taunting the other woman but also inconspicuously eliminating the possible dates Emily might have in store.

"Nope," Emily responded blandly, easily catching on to what Morgan was doing but not bothered enough to comment on it or call him on it.

"Are you going for romantic or fun?" Penelope asked, figuring she would ask as many questions as possible and take it from there.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Emily teased, finding it oddly entertaining how invested they were in this inquisition. "Why don't you go ask JJ if you're so interested."

Penelope, already having tried that, grumbled in frustration, tempted to throw her hands into the air in annoyance at her lack of progress. "Because I already _did_, and guess what? She had no idea where you're taking her or what you have planned!"

"Because it's a surprise," Emily said pointblank, taking a moment to stare at the bubbly blonde beside her, "and _you_ have a tendency to gossip and spill secrets. So to keep my hard work from being ruined, I'm not telling you a single detail."

Garcia opened her mouth to say otherwise but Emily cut her off, "Maybe you should stop focusing on _my_ date and worry about your own. Per the rules, each couple is required to have _two_ dates and I'm thinking you and Morgan haven't even had _one_ yet."

"She's got a point, Babygirl," Morgan said after a moment, looking at the other woman thoughtfully. "We can't win if we don't go out at least twice."

"Wait, you two really haven't been on a date yet?" Emily asked incredulously, having been taking a shot in the dark with her previous comment. With all the things Penelope insisted on telling her about their sex life, Emily had figured they had been on at least one date.

"Why would you think we had?" Morgan questioned, not quite sure why it was so surprising that him and Penelope hadn't been on an official date yet.

Emily shrugged casually, glancing slyly at the tech analyst before redirecting her gaze towards her fellow profiler. "I just figured with all the sex stories Penelope had tried to tell me about you two that you guys had at least gone on one date since the bet started. Granted, we're only on day five of the bet, but still."

Morgan's eyes widened, his shocked face turning towards his partner in crime and girlfriend, "You told her _what_?"

"What's the problem?" Garcia asked, oblivious to what the big deal was. "Did you not want me to tell her how flexible you are or how handy those muscles of yours come in?"

It was like watching a puppet master pulling the strings, watching Penelope twist the conversation this way and that. And it wasn't surprising to see Morgan's surprise quickly morph into pride as he smiled widely, his white teeth on full display as his leaned back smugly in his chair. "I am _quite_ the Casanova," he preened, once again flexing his muscles.

"He is," Penelope nodded in agreement, her hand winding around his large bicep.

"You two are ridiculous," Emily said in disbelief, her head shaking slowly as her final bit of work was finished. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date to get ready for."

With that, she grabbed her stack of files and paperwork and made her way towards JJ's office.

As she stood outside the media liaison's door, her knuckles rapped lightly on the wood, her smile confident and her happiness evident as she waited.

After only a few seconds the door swung open and JJ stood there with a surprised but pleased smile on her face as she registered who her visitor was. "Hey, Em, what's up?"

"I finished my files," the profiler commented casually, brushing past the blonde and depositing the stack of folders onto the desk. "And I needed to give you something before I left."

JJ stood staring at the other woman, a little shocked to see Emily's work done _before_ the last minute, "You're leaving?"

Emily nodded, her back still turned to the other woman as she made her way to the door on the far side of the office. "Yeah, I have to go run a last minute errand and change," she threw over her shoulder as she rummaged around in the small closet within the office.

Just as JJ was about to ask another question, Emily emerged from the closet with the garment bag from earlier, an anxious look in her eyes as she approached JJ and handed it over. "I picked this up for you since you probably won't have much time to get home and get changed. Shoes are in the closet too."

JJ had no response, her tongue effectively tied as she stared blankly down at the black bag in her arms.

Emily glanced down at her watch, her smile falling just a smidge as she saw the time, "So, I've got to get going, otherwise — well, I just better get going." She placed a chaste kiss on JJ's cheek and made her way towards the door, "I'll be back at seven to come pick you up." The profiler stated, her eyes wandering over JJ's form as she tried to form a mental image of the blonde in the garment she had picked out, "but if you want to leave and go home to get ready instead, I'm taking a cab so your car will still be here."

"Do you think you'll be done by seven?" Emily asked as an afterthought, knowing that JJ tended to work late often didn't leave the office until well after nine.

JJ glanced at the stack of paperwork on her desk and then back to the bag in her hand, "Even if I'm not, it can wait until tomorrow," she said softly, feeling more than a little excited at the prospect of their date. She had a feeling it wasn't going to be anything close to what she had expected.

"Okay," Emily said happily, clapping her hands together as she offered the blonde one last smile, "see you at seven."

With that, the profiler left the office and made her way towards her next destination, hoping her idea for their first date didn't fail miserably.

As JJ watched her go, she slowly made her way towards the door and closed it before hanging the garment bag on the hook that rested on the door. Slowly, she pulled the zipper down and gazed in wonder at the blue dress that seemed to match her eyes perfectly.

Her fingers trembled slightly as they caressed the soft fabric, her smile growing wider as she gazed appreciatively at the fabric.

"Only two more hours," JJ murmured to herself as she zipped the bag back up, wanting those two hours to be over and done with so she could see what Emily had planned. She was also more than a little interested in what Emily was going to be wearing, because ifher own dress looked this good, she could only imagine what Emily's looked like.

* * *

Standing in the elevator with her hands nervously gliding over her red strapless dress, Emily couldn't seem to quell her nerves.

She had been on more dates than she could count and while some of them had made her feel butterflies in her stomach at no point had she ever felt like she did then. Her fingers refused to stop shaking, her stomach churned from the force of her anxiety, her heart refused to beat at a slow and normal pace, opting instead to pound rapidly and forcefully — all-in-all, she felt like a teenager again who was going on her very first date.

It was infuriating to say the least, but at the same time, completely freeing.

"You can do this, Emily," she whispered to herself, watching as the numbers glowed and indicated that she was getting closer and closer to the BAU floor. "You've been on plenty of dates before and this is nothing new."

The numbers continued to glow, the elevator moving upward past each floor, "Except you've never been on a date with another woman let alone your best friend, but whatever, those are just details. You can do this." She repeated again, her hands once again smoothing out the wrinkle free fabric before running through her curled hair.

With a sudden jerk, the elevator came to a stop and slowly the doors opened. Grabbing her things from the floor, Emily took a deep breath and strolled out of the elevator and towards JJ's office, ignoring the eyes on her and pointedly ignoring the obnoxious catcalls and whistling from Morgan.

Just as she reached JJ's office, the door swung open and there stood JJ in the dress she had given to her earlier.

The image left the profiler breathless and like someone had just knocked the air from her lungs and jabbed her heart with a syringe full of adrenaline.

"You look—" Emily's head shook, the word to describe just how fantastic the blonde looked suddenly escaping her, "_wow_," she finally muttered.

The blue dress simple in design, with only one blue strap of fabric extending from the bust and wrapped loosely around her left shoulder, the bottom coming just above the middle of her tanned thighs, and the fabric clinging perfectly to her slim and fit figure. But what made the dress that much better, what made it knock all coherent thoughts from Emily's head was the way it perfectly matched JJ's blue eyes and made them seem all that much brighter and deeper.

It had taken her more time than she'd like to admit to find that dress, but the moment she saw it, she knew it was perfect for JJ.

JJ, for her part, was left just as speechless as Emily was. The red dress that Emily wore was the perfect shade, making the pale and porcelain skin seem that much more vibrant; it showcased the amazing figure that was sometimes eclipsed by the outfits the profiler wore for work and it especially showed off what were some of Emily's best assets

"You look amazing," JJ breathed, her eyes continuing to roam over Emily's figure.

"Thanks," Emily said hoarsely before thrusting her hand out and offering the bouquet of flowers she had picked up earlier.

"These are gorgeous, Em," JJ said in wonder, staring at the assortment of bright flowers, most of which seemed to be more exotic than the usual arrangement sold.

Emily shrugged the compliment off, still finding her eyes glued to JJ's form, "I figured you might like something to liven up your office."

"They most certainly will," the media liaison said quietly, dropping the flowers into an empty vase and placing them on the corner of her desk.

After the flowers were safely on the desk and JJ had grabbed her purse, Emily moved to the door and held it open, "You ready?"

JJ nodded nervously, her smile wide and unrestrained as she let her emotions run rampant. "Definitely."

"Then let's get going," Emily said exuberantly, waiting until JJ was out the door before falling in step beside her and intertwining their fingers.

* * *

The car ride was fairly silent, only the sound of the soft music playing and the passing noises around them providing background noise. It wasn't awkward or tense, both women preferring to let the calm atmosphere and anticipation build as they made their way towards their destination.

As the car rolled to a stop and Emily parked it, JJ took the moment to glance around and try to figure out where they were and what they would be doing.

The street was primarily filled with abandoned warehouses and buildings, most of the street lights turned off or broken. It was the dim lighting and empty streets that made it seem more nefarious than JJ supposed it was meant to be; it was only Emily's presence that kept her from re-buckling her seatbelt and trying to get them to go somewhere safer and preferably more populated.

Emily knew the area didn't look all that great but it was good enough for what she needed so it would have to suffice; had she had more time to plan and didn't need to work around the unpredictable schedule of their jobs, the profiler was confident that her dinner idea would have been much better, but she was satisfied with what she had managed.

Romance wasn't something she excelled at but hopefully she could muster up enough of it to at least make the date memorable for JJ.

"Don't worry, we're not staying out here," Emily offered reassuringly as she opened the car door for JJ.

"And where exactly are we going?" The blonde asked as she slid out of her seat, automatically slipping her hand into Emily's as the car door closed and they made their way across the street and towards one of the empty warehouse buildings.

The profiler chuckled, her small smile widening as a look of fondness flitted across her face, "We are going to a place that I used to visit all the time when Mother and I used to come to D.C."

When JJ gave a skeptical sideways glance towards the profiler, Emily gave their joined hands a squeeze, "Trust me, you're going to love it."

Slowly, the two made their way into the empty building, Emily easily navigating through the maze of hallways and leading them towards what appeared to be a freight elevator.

As they stepped inside, Emily tugged the gates closed and pressed the button for the highest floor before stepping back against the wall and waiting for the elevator to begin its ascent.

While Emily seemed completely at ease in the questionably old compartment, JJ wasn't quite so relaxed. The elevator creaked and moaned as it moved from floor to floor, the floor of the box looking as though it were about to break with the lightest of touches, the gears sounding as though they were straining with every inch they gained in height. JJ wouldn't say it out loud, but she feared for her life as they made the torturously slow journey to the top floor.

Then, without warning, the elevator jerked to a stop, the small box rocking slightly from the force, before the doors slid open. Emily wasted no time pulling the gates apart and leading the blonde out, tugging her down the narrow hallway, up a small flight of stairs and up to a large red metal door.

"You ready?" Emily asked, her grin growing as her left hand rested lightly on the metal bar handle across the door.

Taking a steadying breath, JJ nodded resolutely, her own smile growing as it matched Emily's. "Absolutely."

With nothing else to say and no reason to continue to build up the moment, Emily pushed down on the handlebar and nudged the door open, revealing the wide open roof of the building.

The space was dark, only the faint light from full moon shining above them provided a vague outline of the area. "Wait right here," Emily muttered before pulling her hand from JJ's and disappearing from sight.

JJ's eyes followed Emily's shadowed figure until she was indistinguishable from the eerie shadows cast from the objects on the rooftop. When she redirected her focus towards the open area before her, a loud clinking echoed in the quiet space before the sound of metal clanking together sounded and then the entire area was illuminated.

Strung from the poles that stood in each corner of the rooftop, bright white twinkling lights stretched, adding an ambiance to the deserted area that JJ hadn't thought was achievable just moments before.

The way they shimmered in the otherwise dark area, JJ could almost believe that Emily had reached out and pulled a handful of stars from the night sky towards them and scattered them above the building.

"That's nothing," Emily's voice spoke up suddenly, causing JJ to jump in surprise. "Sorry," the profiler muttered quietly before grabbing onto the media liaison's hand again and gently pulling her further onto the rooftop.

Directly in the center of the building's roof, just under the blanket of twinkling lights, stood a rectangular table with a crisp white table cloth atop it, a pair of plates, silverware and glasses neatly arranged on either side.

"I had a ton of ideas for dates," Emily explained as she pulled out one of the seats for the blonde, "from a nice restaurant with rave reviews to a football game with great seats." Once JJ was seated, Emily once again disappeared before bringing out a bottle of wine and a covered platter of food. "At one point I was seriously considering going all out and chartering a private jet, but none of them seemed right."

JJ sat there and listened to the other woman, watching as she uncorked the bottle of wine and poured it into both of their glasses, a smile tugging at her lips as she witnessed a side of Emily that rarely ever surfaced.

"I get that this is just a bet and it's supposed to be fun and simple," the raven haired woman started to say, her head shaking in disbelief at the words that were tumbling unbidden from her lips. She had never been one to rely heavily on her emotions and because of that, she often found it incredibly hard to express them but it didn't feel right to not say what was on her mind at the moment. It was hard as hell to put her thoughts and feelings into words but she figured that JJ at least deserved that much from her date.

With her hand raking roughly through her hair, Emily placed her hands on the table and attempted to calm herself down and sort through her thoughts.

"I just figured that if we were going to do this right, then you deserved a date with a little substance." Her shoulders bobbed helplessly, "We see some of the most unforgettable things and see people's worst on a regular basis and I just thought that—" her lips pursed for a second, her eyes narrowing in thought, "we, especially you, deserved something lighthearted and, I don't know," Emily floundered as she tried to pick the right word, "thoughtful."

"It's great, Em," JJ responded immediately, her hand stretching across the table as it covered the profiler's. "This is beautiful," she whispered in awe, not only talking about the location but the thought that Emily had clearly put into it.

The blonde had been on a lot of dates and while a good handful of them had been pretty great, none of them had ever come close to involving this much thought or intimacy.

"If you don't mind me asking, why'd you pick this building? I'm sure there are plenty of other viable rooftops in D.C." JJ asked, nothing but sincere and genuine curiosity in her voice.

Emily's eyes skittered down towards their hands, not wanting to look at the blonde as she admitted to why she had chosen this place for their first date let alone its significance in her own life.

With her cheeks blushing ever so slightly, Emily bit down on her lower lip and contemplated her answer. It was going to sound incredibly cheesy and something that would probably be said in a romantic comedy, but she didn't exactly have another reason and no matter how embarrassing it was to admit, she figured she might as well.

"I don't know if it's because of how I viewed dating when I was younger or because I wanted this date to stand apart from all the others but I wanted it to mean something more than just a place where we ate," she mumbled, speaking loud enough to be heard but not louder than strictly necessary. She felt ridiculous and exposed for her reasoning behind picking this place but it was true. She didn't want to take JJ to some place that a hundred other people had gone just because a paper or critic deemed the food above par, she wanted it to at least have some heart in it.

"I completely understand," JJ said after a moment, her hand still covering Emily's, as she stared at the other woman with a mixture of interest and adoration. "A first date, especially between two people who basically know all there is to know about one another, should have some kind of meaning behind it. Anything else would have just felt like an empty gesture."

Emily nodded enthusiastically, glad she wasn't coming across as odd for her views on their first official date. "Exactly," she said immediately, her eyes lighting up as she watched the woman across from her.

JJ smiled at that, taking a moment to wonder if Garcia hadn't been right from the beginning. Maybe her and Emily were more compatible than Emily and Morgan, or Emily and anyone else for that matter. Granted, some friendships between two people — regardless of gender or orientation — were so tight knit that both people were in tuned with the other and could read one another's thoughts quite easily. It had been that way for JJ and Emily after all; both women gradually coming together through the shared difficulties of their job or the sheer need to decompress with someone who understood what the other was going through.

What started as a few small talks and comforting gestures evolved into deeper conversations until the awkwardness and boundaries faded to the background and they found themselves spending most of their free time around one another.

So it made sense, on at least that level, that JJ would be able to grasp what Emily had just been trying to say. But that didn't explain why everything, including their few intimate acts, seemed to be comfortable as well.

Kissing a friend was never an easy thing and it often went one of three ways; the two either realized that there was more between them after their fateful kiss and decided to pursue a relationship that ended up being the best decision they could have made. The second outcome was that the two would kiss and _try_ to make a relationship work only to realize that they weren't nearly as romantically compatible as they had originally thought and any attempts at reverting back to a platonic friendship were quickly scrapped because of the baggage now residing between them. And finally, the third outcome was that after the kiss the two realized there was nothing between them and slowly but surely they reverted back to their close friendship, already cognizant of the fact that, while they were technically compatible on most if not all aspects of their life, romantically, they just weren't going to work.

But when JJ and Emily kissed, the blonde knew option three was a viable option, especially with the way Emily seemed to push past the most awkward of exchanges simply by brushing the whole thing off and pretending it never happened.

Option one and two, however, were the more likely outcomes. There was definitely _something_ between them when they kissed, there was an underlying chemistry that had nothing to do with being close friends. But she could only guess whether pursuing something more would be beneficial or detrimental.

And with their jobs on the line, it made things even more complicated.

So JJ wasn't quite sure what she should be hoping for from their time together as a couple, but while it was happening she would take full advantage of it and try to figure out which outcome they were destined for.

Worst case scenario, at the end of the two weeks they called it quits, dealt with a few awkward weeks and then got back on track. Best case scenario, she ended up with a girlfriend and a shot at a relationship she had honestly never seen coming.

"Are you hungry?" Emily asked suddenly, shaking the blonde from her inner ramblings.

"Starving," JJ responded, "I don't think I even ate anything today." Her brow furrowed in thought as she tried to remember whether she had eaten anything or had worked straight through lunch.

"You can't remember whether or not you ate?" Emily asked in amusement, the corner of her lip curling upwards as she tried to fight the eye roll that always surfaced when JJ was particularly, well, JJ-ish.

"I'm sure you've worked through lunch and forgotten to eat before, too," JJ said pointedly, her expression challenging as she dared the other woman to say otherwise.

"No, you're right about that, I've worked through lunch more times than I can count," Emily agreed. "But I've never forgotten altogether whether or not I've eaten anything that day. That's just a Jennifer Jareau kind of thing."

"A Jennifer Jareau kind of thing?" JJ questioned, staring expectantly at the other woman for an explanation. "Do I even want to know how many more of these things there are?"

Laughing to herself, Emily shook her head, "It's just things that only _you_ do. They're Jennifer Jareau things." The profiler offered as an explanation, not quite sure how else to explain it. "I'm sure there are things you've identified as Emily Prentiss kind of things too."

Thinking on it for a moment, the blonde reluctantly nodded. There were a handful of things that she had seen Emily do that no one else did and if they did do it, it was nowhere near as elegant or noteworthy as the way Emily had done it. "Okay, I see your point."

Emily's pleased expression quickly morphed into one of curiosity, "I would ask what you've deemed as 'Emily kind of things' but I get the feeling you won't tell me."

"And you would be right about that," the blonde stated positively, a coy smile accentuating her remark.

Pressing her lips together to stifle her smirk, Emily slowly bobbed her head up and down, "I'll get it out of you eventually, JJ." Her confidence was clear as day as she leaned forward and smiled mischievously at the other woman, "There are plenty of Emily things that you have yet to experience, and once you do, you'll be like putty in my hands," she said throatily, a slight edge of promise to her words as she stared right into JJ's eyes.

"But until then, I'll just have to use my cooking skills to convince you," Emily said after a beat, lifting the metal cover off of the glazed lamb and vegetables she had cooked. It wasn't nearly as hot as it had been when she had first brought it out but it was still warm and that would have to do for the moment. Had they not gotten lost in conversation and banter, they would have started eating long before it had started to cool.

"A romantic setting and a home cooked meal," JJ said in appreciation and pleasant surprise, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were really trying to woo me, Emily."

The profiler didn't comment right away, opting instead to cut a piece of lamb and serve it onto the blonde's plate before doing the same for herself. "Please, Jennifer," she said teasingly, "this is far from my best attempt at wooing. But don't worry, you'll know when you've been wooed, of that I have no doubt."

And JJ didn't doubt that either, especially since it obviously didn't take much action on Emily's part to have JJ swooning like a giddy schoolgirl. Honestly, Emily could end the date with this dinner and JJ would be in high spirits over its success.

But that didn't mean she wasn't anxious to see what else the profiler had in store for them.

* * *

About an hour and half into their date, after they had eaten their fill and had fallen back into comfortably and easygoing conversation, Emily's eyes started to move skyward more and more frequently.

"Are you expecting company from another planet or something?" JJ asked after what had to have been the twentieth glance towards the sky, her voice laced in pure amusement.

"No, I'm not waiting for aliens," Emily drawled sarcastically, her eyes rolling before she once again looked up. "Just shush and wait here a sec," the profiler said before walking towards the place she had gone when they had first arrived.

With a loud clang, the lights around them shut off and they were once again blanketed in darkness. However, this time, the area was completely pitch black, the light from the moon completely eclipsed by one of the few clouds in the night sky.

It was startling to see the stars that littered the darkened sky, the bright lights of the city usually eclipsing most if not all of them. Now that it had gotten darker out and the area Emily had taken her to no longer had any lights on, she could make out each and every star.

"I didn't even know D.C. _had_ stars anymore," JJ whispered jokingly, her eyes still focused on the stars above her as she tried to make out some of the few constellations she knew.

Emily sidled up beside her, pulling the blonde from her seat and guiding her towards the darkest end of the rooftop. "I've been coming here since I was about—" the profiler stopped for a moment as she tried to remember the first time she had been brought to the city and discovered this great little place, "probably around sixteen or so."

"I thought you spent your childhood abroad, moving through Europe," JJ questioned, glancing at Emily for a brief second.

"I did," the other woman commented, "but every so often we would come back here to visit or for Mother's work obligations."

"And you've been coming here ever since? Just for the stars?" JJ asked, suddenly more interested in Emily that the beautiful sight just above her. It wasn't often she got to hear about Emily's childhood; sure, she knew it wasn't the best but it was something of a taboo topic and most knew to steer clear of it. But if Emily was willing to open up about it now, JJ was definitely going to listen.

"Well, it had started out as a hiding place. I hated coming here because I was either trotted around like a show pony at the events we had to attend or made to feel like I was made to feel like my best just wasn't good enough; usually it was a combination of the two." The profiler shook her head at the memories of her childhood, they weren't something she liked to remember or even think about.

"So when I was fed up with the constant build-ups and teardowns, I would just leave and explore the city. I'm not sure why I chose _this_ building to wander into, but eventually I did and after exploring the place I found my way up here, to the rooftop."

"And your mother didn't care that you had just taken off like that?" JJ asked quizzically.

Emily let out a short bark of laughter, "No, she was usually too preoccupied with other things to notice my absence."

JJ nodded at that, not wanting to venture into the darker or more upsetting parts of Emily's life, choosing instead to focus on why this place was so special to Emily and why she thought JJ was worthy of seeing it.

"So, what makes this place so special other than its seclusion?" The blonde asked, steering the conversation towards, hopefully, a safer topic.

"When I first came here, I sat on this ledge for hours. I didn't have anywhere to be and I didn't have anything to do so I just sat here and looked at the buildings. I sat here so long I actually got to watch the sun set and the stars peek through. It was probably one of the best days of my life." Emily responded, a quiet reverence in her voice as she stared wonderingly at the ledge before them. "I don't know why, but being on this rooftop, sitting here and looking up at the stars, I felt like—" Her head shook as she once again tried and failed to find the right words to describe how that first night had made her feel.

"Like everything was manageable and would get better? Like there was more out there waiting for you?" JJ supplied, her blue eyes looking up towards the stars but her voice filled with knowing.

"Exactly," Emily responded softly.

"I used to get like that when I was younger." JJ said after they had fallen into a lull of silence, "I hated thinking my life was going to be spent in a middle of nowhere town, where my main goal was supposed to be getting married and having children. My mom made me feel crazy for wanting something more from my life and did everything in her power to try and keep me close."

There was no anger or resentment in her voice as she spoke, just a sad realization as she remembered just _why_ her mother had insisted on keeping her in town. It had felt impossible to move on with their lives after her sister had died and it didn't surprise her that her mother would want to keep an eye on her. But even with the heartache of losing her only other sibling, JJ knew she couldn't stay there. She felt like she wasn't doing herself or her sister justice by settling for a life where she only existed to reproduce.

"When she was being particularly pushy, I would go outside to the soccer field and just lay on the grass; looking up at the sky and seeing all those stars, it made me feel like wanting more for my life wasn't such a bad thing."

Emily gnawed on her lip, debating whether or not to voice her next comment or to keep it to herself.

After only a second of indecision, she let out a quiet sigh, "I figured as much," she muttered lowly. "It's why I chose this spot for our first date, I figured we would both enjoy the view."

"How'd you know?" JJ asked, curious as the how Emily had known she would enjoy stargazing. While the blonde's childhood wasn't a taboo topic and if the conversation went that way, JJ wouldn't lie or avoid it, but it rarely ever came up. And only her parents had known she would spent nights just looking up at the sky and trying to spot the many constellations that littered it.

Emily shrugged, as though it was no big deal that she knew. "I've just heard you talk about stars and things every now and then. Whenever it came up, which wasn't often by the way, your face would kind of light up and you would get this excited twinkle in your eyes."

"You noticed that?" JJ asked in surprise, wondering just how many other things Emily had picked up on over the years.

"Of course," the other woman said easily, the sentimental mood broken by her suddenly smug look, "I'm a profiler, it's my job to notice things."

"You're about as humble as Morgan, you know that?" JJ asked jokingly as she nudged the other woman with her shoulder.

"I can't help being this great, Jen. It just comes naturally to me." Emily teased, nudging the blonde back. "Which is why I'm going to have to hide my embarrassment over the cheesy thing I'm about to say, and ask you for a dance." As if to punctuate the embarrassment level she was experiencing, Emily winced slightly and held her hand out to the blonde.

JJ, not having expected that, stared at the profiler in puzzlement. "But there isn't even any music playing," she said dumbly, trying to wrap her head around this new and strangely charming Emily that was standing before her.

Whipping out a remote control, Emily pressed down on a single button before a soft melody floated through the air. "When will you learn, Jen, that I'm always prepared?"

"Never," JJ jibed as she gladly grabbed the profiler's hand and tugged her towards the center of the roof, just a little ways from their dinner table. With the music playing softly in the background, JJ's arms easily wound around Emily's neck as she pressed comfortably against the taller woman.

Emily wasted no time placing her arms around the blonde's waist, a smile on her face as they swayed leisurely from side to side to the music.

It was a moment that seemed to stretch as they stood there wrapped in one another's arms, content to just sway to the music and enjoy the faint light cast upon them by the multitude of stars above them.

Emily couldn't hide her pleased smile at the success of her date. So far, it seemed to have been going as well as could be expected and hopefully it would continue to do so.

"I know this probably wasn't what you had in mind for our date," Emily said slowly, her grip on the blonde tightening and they slowly started to turn, "but I hope it's been an adequate first date, even if it is just for a bet."

JJ's smile was wide as she looked at the other woman, "It's better than I could have ever imagined," she muttered, "even it's just for a bet," she parroted softly. With sparkling eyes and a fluttering in her stomach, JJ gave herself over to the moment and tilted her head upwards, fully intending to show Emily just how much she appreciated the thought that had gone into their night together.

And just as their lips were tantalizingly close, hovering just millimeters apart, Emily's eyes glued to JJ's as the distance closed ever so slowly, a shrill ringing echoed through the area, easily audible over the smooth and dulcet tones in the background.

The bubble of anticipation that had been building between them snapped like an overstretched rubber band, both women freezing in place as the ringing continued.

"Somehow, I should have seen that coming," Emily muttered, already taking a step back from the blonde and looking towards where she knew JJ's phone was.

JJ grumbled in annoyance as the warmth from Emily's body left hers, "Of all the nights." In that moment, the media liaison had never hated her job more, especially since it had interrupted what she was sure would have been a _very _memorable kiss.

With one last glance over her shoulder, JJ made her way towards her purse and pulled out her phone. "Jareau," she barked into the device, her frustrations being taken out on the person on the other line.

Emily wanted to be annoyed, she really did, especially since their night wasn't nearly done yet but seeing JJ all frustrated and barking angrily at the person on the phone, she couldn't quite muster the negative feelings.

Plus, someone wouldn't have called unless it was important, and usually the only important calls they received pertained to their job, so again, it was hard to be annoyed.

With only a tinge of disappointment and already knowing their romantic time together was over, Emily gathered her things and waited for the blonde by the door. Their goodnight kiss would just have to wait until later, she supposed.

All-in-all though, she figured their first official date was something of a success and she was looking forward to what JJ had in store for their second date, hopefully it was one with no interruptions and an equally pleasant ending.

* * *

_**I apologize for the wait on this one, but I've been trying to wrap up my other story and haven't had much time to work on this one but hopefully the wait was worth it. **_

_**From how this is going, each chapter should represent each day of the bet, so right now this is day 5. Not sure if it'll keep up like that, but we'll see.  
**_


	7. Lips Locked and Devious Plans

"We've got a case, don't we?" Emily asked knowingly, standing in front of the open door as she waited for JJ to finish gathering her things. It was the BAU curse as Emily had named it; the curse that would only arise when it had the perfect opportunity to ruin a great moment. There were more times than she cared to count where her day or evening had been sent crashing and burning because the BAU curse had struck yet again.

JJ nodded morosely, having long ago resigned herself to the unpredictability of their job. "That was Hotch, he's calling us all in for a case in Wichita."

"We better get going, then," Emily said soundly, though there was no hiding the slight disappointment that tinged her voice as she waited patiently for JJ.

After gathering all of their things and making their way back to the office, Emily stopped just outside the entrance doors, her arms outstretched as she stopped JJ's progress as well. Her date had for the most part, gone according to plan, but the profiler wasn't quite ready to end things. Their case would undoubtedly wipe away a good portion of the joy that their date had created and Emily wasn't all that willing to give it up before she absolutely needed to.

"What's up, Em?" The blonde asked, looking from the profiler to the door and back again, unsure why the other woman had stopped their movement.

Emily opened her mouth to respond, her eyebrows slightly furrowed in thought as she stared at the woman before her .The words were on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't quite get them out.

"Em?" JJ asked again, waiting patiently for the profiler to respond.

Instead of responding, Emily's face set into what could only be described as excited determination, before she grabbed the blonde's hips and pulled her in for a bruising kiss.

Time wasn't exactly on their side seeing as how they were supposed to be coming in to work a case, but Emily hadn't put this much thought into their time together only to walk away without getting her goodnight kiss.

Technically, she would be around JJ for the duration of the case, but still. It was the principle of the matter.

Dates ended with kisses. Well, the good dates, anyhow.

And Emily was confident that their date had most assuredly been a good one.

The profiler pulled away after a few seconds, not wanting things to escalate too far. The last thing they needed was a make out session before going in to face their coworkers. It was an appealing idea but Emily had a feeling that Garcia and Morgan would know about it as soon as they walked through the doors.

Those two were surprisingly good at guessing those sorts of things.

However, as much restraint as Emily was employing, JJ was decidedly employing just as little. No sooner had Emily pulled away and taken a slightly shaky but completely satisfied breath, did JJ grab onto her and pull her back in.

It was surprising to say the least, especially since a bold and forceful Jennifer Jareau was something seldom seen, at least in a romantic sense. From what Emily had seen, JJ tended to take the passive route when it came to her beaus. Now, though, it seemed like she wasn't afraid to take charge and had a no holds barred outlook on their relationship, which Emily was completely okay with.

With the feeling of JJ's soft and plump lips pressed against Emily's, the profiler was adamantly okay with this shift in attitude. In fact, Emily would be willing to go so far as to say that JJ could repeat this action whenever she pleased, especially when it felt as amazing as it did at that moment.

Take charge JJ would never hear any complaints from Emily — not one.

Finally getting her brain to kick start again, Emily wasted no time responding to the kiss. JJ's hands gripped firmly at the nape of the profiler's neck, holding the other woman in place as she gently pushed them closer to the wall of the building, using the wall as a means of support.

The two stumbled slightly until they came into contact with the solid wall, Emily gasping as the cold bricks of the building touched her back. Stepping out of her brain and overactive thoughts and finally giving herself over to the circumstances of their situation, Emily leaned completely against the wall, her fingers burying themselves in the long blonde locks of the woman before her.

JJ's tongue traced along Emily's lips, easily sliding in when the profiler's lips immediately parted.

Throughout the duration of their kiss, neither woman could hear beyond the buzz in their ears or the quiet sounds of the other woman, but as JJ's tongue started to war with Emily's, the same shrill beeping from earlier once again pierced their self-created bubble of bliss.

Emily pulled away from the kiss, confusion written all over her face as she tried to identify what the strange sound was. "Ignore it," JJ muttered huskily, almost hungrily, as she moved her lips down to the column of Emily's neck. The blonde wasted no time peppering the pale flesh with kisses, her enthusiasm only growing as the profiler automatically tilted her head to the side to provide the blonde with better access.

JJ didn't know what had gotten into her and could only guess that her reaction at the moment was in part due to the lengths Emily had been willing to go to for their date, the little bit of rawness she had seen in the profiler when she confessed to why she had chosen that particular place, combined with the feel of Emily's lips on her own — all of it was making it hard not to devour the woman before her.

There was something about Emily, seeing this new side to her and allowing herself to get lost in whatever was going on between them — whether it was because of the bet or not proved to be irrelevant — that JJ couldn't quite ignore.

This was meant to be something fun and lighthearted but after the efforts on Emily's part, JJ couldn't quite go into this half-heartedly. She was going to give this her all and that meant giving in to the visceral reactions she had whenever Emily so much as held her hand or offered a genuine and unrestrained smile.

It was because of those visceral reactions that she found herself pinning the profiler to the wall and attacking those taunting and enticing lips.

As her lips moved on to Emily's neck, the sound of her phone ringing went unnoticed.

When the sound of voices suddenly reached their ears and began to grow steadily louder, one set of the doors to the building swinging open, the two finally broke apart. JJ took two large steps away from the profiler, her eyes wild and easily the darkest blue Emily had ever seen.

The two women attempted to steady their breath as they watched the group of agents walk out the door and into the parking lot.

"That was um…" Emily said quietly, finding that thinking was a bit difficult at the moment. Her neck was tingling where JJ had touched it and her lips felt swollen from the sheer forcefulness of their kisses.

"Yeah," JJ responded just as quietly, blinking slowly as she tried to get herself back under control, the feeling of Emily's plump lips on her own still fogging her mind.

With their hands no longer on one another and a suitable amount of distance between them, when JJ's phone rang yet again, the two women finally heard it.

"My phone," JJ said dumbly as she waved the device in the air, as if Emily didn't already know that bit of information. "Jareau," the blonde answered, her voice still sounding husky from their interrupted activities.

"_Are you two about done out there?_" Penelope's voice floated over the line, sounding far more amused than usual.

"What do you mean?" JJ asked slowly, looking around as if she believed Penelope would pop up out of nowhere with a camera, ready to scream 'gotcha!' at them.

"_I mean are you two done making out or should I stall while you two finish up?_" The tech analyst asked, her muffled laughter and obvious entertainment making the media liaison blush.

"What?" Emily asked, only able to hear JJ's side of the conversation and not quite understanding why JJ was blushing so badly.

JJ didn't respond, her blue eyes glancing around before landing on the camera that sat just above the entrance doors. She pointed her finger towards the camera, Emily's eyes automatically moving towards the object.

"We'll be right up," JJ squeaked, embarrassed at having been caught and even more embarrassed that Penelope and most likely Morgan, had seen the entire thing. "C'mon Em."

Emily allowed the blonde to tug her towards the entrance but didn't go inside until she gave a crude hand gesture to the camera and the person, or people, who happened to be watching the feed.

* * *

Walking onto the BAU floor, the two women immediately parted ways and changed their outfits.

With JJ having her own office, it meant she was afforded a bit more privacy and distance than Emily had. The moment the profiler had changed and grabbed her things from her desk, she came face to face with a smirking and overly proud Derek Morgan. "Hey, Prentiss," he drawled, his grin stretching even wider as he leaned casually against his desk, a pen twirling between his fingers.

"Morgan," Emily responded, her voice sounding just a tad gruffer than she had originally planned.

Derek, unaffected by the sudden attitude, simply continued to grin, his pen dropping on top of the desk as he began to rub his hands together in anticipation. "So, I hear you and JJ had a steamy make out session outside," he commented casually, his lecherous expression belying the innocence.

"You mean you and Garcia were spying on us like a couple of peeping toms, right?" Emily questioned, a slight edge to her voice as she leveled the man with a glare. It wasn't that she hadn't expected to get a ribbing from Morgan, because she had. There was no way he could keep his mouth shut and refrain from making any jokes but Emily was now in a piss poor mood.

Her date had been ended so much earlier than she had anticipated, add to that the fact that they had been called in on a case, _plus_ the fact that her one glorious moment outside with JJ had been rudely interrupted by a spying and sniggering Penelope Garcia. So all-in-all, Emily wasn't in much of a great mood; sure, in a few hours when it stopped feeling like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on her, she would join in with Morgan and laugh about it, but at the moment, she was just annoyed and more than a little grumpy.

"You make us sound like perverts," Morgan said in mock offense.

"You said it, not me," Emily smarmed, easily falling into their usual routine of genial teasing.

"Hey," Derek shouted in indignation, his chin raising defiantly into the air, "Baby girl and I just like to know what's going on. If we _happened_ to be looking at the camera footage while you and JJ just so _happened_ to be outside necking like a pair of horny teenagers, we can't be held responsible for that." And just like that, his wounded and offended look was gone in an instant, replaced by his overconfident concupiscent look.

"_Right_," Emily intoned, looking at the man before her with a completely bored expression transfixed on her face. "And if you two had known where our date was, I'm sure you would have conveniently and coincidentally been hacking into that video footage too, unintentionally getting a bird's eye view of the whole thing."

"Exactly," Morgan boasted, his smile never wavering. "Now that we've cleared that up, tell me about your date. It must have been good if it ended with a steamy kiss like that," he questioned excitedly, following behind Emily like an overzealous puppy as she moved towards the meeting room.

"Why are you so interested in how my date went?" Emily asked, her curiosity at an all time high as she sat down at the conference table and stared at the burly man. "You'd think you and Garcia weren't even _trying_ to win this bet with the way you two keep fixating on me and JJ."

As Emily looked down at her case file before her, she missed the addled look on Morgan's face and completely misread the forced and somewhat nervous chuckle that escaped him. "Me and Baby girl don't need to try as hard and you and JJ do," he said slowly, the words suddenly lacking their usual level of confidence.

Emily glanced up from the folder before her, "You don't sound like you believe that," she commented casually, narrowing her eyes at the other man. "Is there trouble in paradise already?" Emily joked, leaning forward on the desk as she tried to get a read on Morgan.

"Nah," he dismissed, waving her off as he pretended to look over his notes. "We couldn't be better. I just don't want you and JJ losing before the bet's really even started."

"You sure about that?" Emily pushed, sensing that all was not well between Morgan and Garcia.

"Absolutely," he responded with conviction, his grin returning full force in the blink of an eye. "We've actually got a date planned for Friday."

"Friday?" Emily asked, "As in _this_ Friday?" That was only a few days to finish with everything in Wichita and Emily wasn't all that sure that they would be making it back that soon.

"Yeah," he answered plainly, "so we've gotta wrap this case up fast otherwise all my planning goes to waste."

Emily, seeing an opportunity to be the nosy one, decided to push for information on the particulars of their outing. "I'm curious what the Casanova of the BAU has planned for his first official date with Penelope. Maybe a little dining and dancing?"

"I'm not telling you Prentiss," Morgan said definitively. "If I didn't get any details on your date then you aren't getting any on mine."

"Seriously?" Emily asked incredulously, wondering why Morgan wasn't acting like his usual boastful self. Any other time and he would have been jumping at the chance to show his prowess when it came to wooing someone, especially Penelope; and now he was acting as though the whole thing was top secret. "All of your other dates, all the countless women you've hit on at the bar, I've had to hear about," Emily pointed out, "but the one date that matters, you're going to be tight lipped about it?"

"Hey, you didn't tell me about your date with JJ," he accused, easily flipping the conversation around.

"Because I never tell you about my dates," she pointed out, wondering why he was suddenly acting so wounded about not knowing every detail of her evening with JJ. "Why would I start now?"

"So when you tell me about your date, I'll tell you about mine." He offered, his brown eyes peering seriously into hers, as if he were trying to pull the information from her.

"Are you honestly that hurt by me not talking to you about this?" Emily asked, all sense of joking aside as she tried to figure out if she had inadvertently offended Morgan. It was no secret that she tended to keep her personal life to herself, and more often than not, when she needed to vent, it was to JJ. But that didn't mean she wasn't close to Morgan too, especially when they spent so much time together on the job. It hadn't occurred to her that by keeping her time with JJ to herself that maybe she was making Morgan think she didn't trust him.

But then again, he knew how she was and more often than not, he would let things like this just roll of his back. So why was this issue such a sore spot for him now?

It wasn't adding up and Emily wasn't quite sure how to handle it.

"Look Prentiss, we're partners." He said after a moment, looking to Emily as she nodded in agreement. "Which means we don't keep stuff from one another. I know this is all just a fun bet but c'mon, you don't need to act like you're on a super secret mission or something. I can see the way you look at her."

It was the strange mixture of sincerity and blunt honesty that made Emily want to recoil, her eyes feeling as though they were bulging out of her head with how wide they were. "I look at her like how I've always look at her," Emily said sternly, knowing that if she wasn't willing to discuss her date then she sure as hell wasn't about to discuss her changing feelings towards JJ.

"Please," Morgan said dismissively, leveling his patented profiler's gaze on Emily, "I may play oblivious at times but I'm not an idiot. You like her."

"I thought it was a BAU rule not to profiler one another," Emily said heatedly, her eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at the other man.

"It doesn't take a profiler to read the look on your face recently when you're around JJ," he said casually, knowing he was purposely pushing her buttons but not willing to stop. "You like her," he restated, his expression daring Emily to argue or deny it.

"She's JJ," Emily said matter-of-factly, "of course I like her. We wouldn't be friends if I didn't."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Morgan said resolutely, his tone letting Emily know that her attempt at trying to play dumb wasn't working.

"Honesty is a two way street there Morgan," Emily threw back at him, "and it also doesn't take a profiler to know that you and Garcia have been up to something since this whole bet started."

"What we've been up to is trying to _win_, anything else is just your imagination." He argued right back, looking to Emily expectantly as he waited for her to admit to having feelings for their resident media liaison.

"Whatever," Emily mumbled, looking towards the doorway and hoping someone else would walk in so she could stop having this conversation with Morgan. "Just mind your own business."

"You're not fooling me Princess," he said sagely before getting up from his seat and walking out of the room, a confident gait in his step.

As he left the room, Emily sat there with a perplexed and befuddled look on her face, not quite sure how a joking inquisition into his date with Garcia had somehow evolved into him profiling her relationship with JJ.

There was also the fact that he was absolutely right — she _was_ starting to look at JJ differently.

* * *

Morgan strolled out of the room and headed directly towards Garcia's office, a wide and accomplished smile on his face as he did so.

"Baby girl!" He shouted as he strolled through the doorway and dropped down onto one of the seats before her desk. "Who's the man?" He asked excitedly, looking to the tech analyst. "I'm the man," he answered immediately, his thumbs thrusting into his chest as he continued to boast.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why are you the man?" Garcia asked slowly but still in her usual chipper tone.

"Because I basically just got a confirmation that Emily is totally into JJ," he answered, sounding as though it should have been obvious to the tech analyst.

"Oh Sweetie," she replied gingerly, almost patronizingly, her eyes softening as she looked at him, "we already knew that."

"We did?" He asked.

Upon seeing Morgan's confused face, she resisted the urge to chuckle and give him a pat on the head, "They were just swabbing the inside of each other's throats with their tongues, I think it's safe to say things aren't just platonic anymore."

"So what does that mean for our plan?" He asked, clearly having no idea what Penelope had in store any more. Working with her had a tendency to make him feel like the brainless henchman working for the mastermind — every time he thought he was catching on to what they were doing, she would change the plans and he would end up feeling as though he were in the dark again.

"It means we're going ahead as planned. No reason to change things now," she idly commented, her fingers flying across her keyboard as her sinister smile grew. "I know I shouldn't be happy about this case, but I'm kind of excited that it's in Wichita of all places." Before Morgan could ask about that comment, Penelope stood from her seat, grabbed his arm, and pulled him up. "Now we need to go back to the conference room and get this case started."

As they prepared to leave, Morgan still feeling completely clueless about what Penelope had planned, remembered his comment to Emily. "Oh, and we have a date on Friday, so be ready."

Giving him an incredulous but pleased look, Garcia stopped walking for a moment before catching up to him. "I expect flowers," she said bossily just before walking into the conference room and putting any further plans on the back-burner.

* * *

After the debriefing, the team, minus Garcia, grabbed their things and headed towards the jet.

The ride was the same as it always was; they continued to discuss the case and came up with a plan of attack for when they finally arrived. JJ would be working with one of the police officers to set up tip lines and handle any media problems that arose while the rest of the team split into pairs and questioned the victim's families. It was the same thing they did on almost every other case, but this time, Emily was left feeling uneasy when they landed.

As soon as they stepped off the jet, there was a rather ruggedly handsome officer in uniform waiting for them. His short sandy blonde hair, the golden tan to his skin, his tall and extraordinarily fit physique, not to mention his ridiculously green eyes that seemed to be glued to and practically devouring JJ — made Emily take an immediate dislike to him.

Which was absurd seeing as how he had done nothing that would have warranted such feelings in Emily, but her dislike of him only grew when he took hurried steps forward and engulfed JJ in a tight hug. "JJ, it's so good to see you," he said gleefully, his hug lasting just a few seconds longer than strictly necessary before he pulled away, a charming smile on his face.

"It's good to see you too, Jake," JJ responded just as enthusiastically, her hand resting lightly on his muscled bicep.

It was only with the image of those two staring into one another's eyes, that Emily recognized the churning emotion in the pit of her stomach and why she was immediately put off by the man.

She had heard all about this guy from Penelope one night when they were out and while it hadn't clicked earlier when JJ had mentioned where they were going, now it was most assuredly in the forefront of her mind.

This was the officer Jake McCallister that Penelope had mooned over and spent close to thirty-five minutes dreamily describing as JJ's future husband. At the time, Emily had been nothing but amused by the whole thing, especially when the media liaison spent the whole time blushing so fiercely she looked like a tomato.

But now, seeing just how ruggedly handsome he was and seeing firsthand how perfect the two looked together, Emily could clearly identify the jealousy that was now running like wildfire through her system.

It had been awhile since she had experienced this feeling and absolutely detested it. It was also a little surprising to see just how strong it was; on the few occasions that she _had_ been jealous, it was easily manageable, but with JJ hanging all over, what appeared to be, the most attractive man in Wichita, Kansas, it wasn't quite so easy to tamp down.

There was a loud buzzing in her ears as she watched the two interact, the light and innocent touches seeming anything but, and Emily knew she needed to get out of there soon before she let the irrational green eyed monster inside of her loose.

"Morgan, you ready to go?" Emily asked tightly, trying to keep her stormy and uncharacteristic emotions in check. She was failing miserably and couldn't help but continue to steal glances at the otherwise occupied blonde media liaison.

Morgan looked from Emily to JJ, his confused expression quickly clearing as he finally caught on to why Garcia had been so excited about the case being in this city. Stifling his laugh, he bobbed his shoulders and waved Emily towards one of the waiting SUV's. "After you."

While he didn't know much about this guy, Jake, Morgan had been there the last time he was involved in a case and knew the officer had more than a little crush on JJ. And while Emily hadn't been around for it, Morgan had no doubt that the profiler was now completely aware of the officer's feelings towards the media liaison. If the fire burning in Emily's eyes or the grinding of her teeth was anything to go by, he had no doubt that this was what Penelope had been hoping for, though he suspected even Garcia hadn't expected it to set Emily off so quickly.

As Emily walked ahead, Morgan quickly whipped out his phone and smiled widely as his fingers tapped away on the keyboard. '**Baby girl, you are a genius!**' was all it said, a clear indicator to Garcia that her intended reaction from Emily had been achieved.

'**This is just the beginning**,' Garcia responded immediately and Morgan had no doubt that by the time the case was over, neither Emily nor JJ would know what had hit them.

They might have thrown Penelope off with their about face at the beginning, but now that she was catching on, they were going to be woefully unprepared for what the next nine days had in store. By the time the bet came to a close, those two would have been put through the ringer, but the tech analyst had no doubt that it would all be worth it in the end.


End file.
